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America's Obsessives: The Compulsive Energy That Built a Nation
When most of us think of Charles Lindbergh, we picture a dashing twenty-five-year-old aviator stepping out of the Spirit of St. Louis after completing his solo flight across the Atlantic. What we don't see is the awkward high school student, who preferred ogling new gadgets at the hardware store to watching girls walk by in their summer dresses. Sure, Lindbergh's unique mindset invented the pre-flight checklist, but his obsession with order also led him to demand that his wife and three German mistresses account for all their household expenditures in detailed ledgers.
Lucky Lindy is just one of several American icons whom Joshua Kendall puts on the psychologist's couch in America's Obsessives . In this fascinating look at the arc of American history through the lens of compulsive behavior, he shows how some of our nation's greatest achievements-from the Declaration of Independence to the invention of the iPhone-have roots in the disappointments and frustrations of early childhood. Starting with the obsessive natures of some of Silicon Valley's titans, including Steve Jobs, Kendall moves on to profile seven iconic figures, such as founding father Thomas Jefferson, licentious librarian Melvil Dewey, condiment kingpin H. J. Heinz, slugger Ted Williams, and Estee Lauder. This last personality was so obsessed with touching other women's faces that she transformed her compulsion into a multibillion-dollar cosmetics corporation.
Entertaining and instructive, Kendall offers up a few scoops along the way: Little do most Americans know that Charles Lindbergh, under the alias Clark Kent, sired seven children with his three German "wives." As Lindbergh's daughter Reeve told Kendall, "Now I know why he was gone so much. I also understand why he was delighted when I was learning German."
Lucky Lindy is just one of several American icons whom Joshua Kendall puts on the psychologist's couch in America's Obsessives . In this fascinating look at the arc of American history through the lens of compulsive behavior, he shows how some of our nation's greatest achievements-from the Declaration of Independence to the invention of the iPhone-have roots in the disappointments and frustrations of early childhood. Starting with the obsessive natures of some of Silicon Valley's titans, including Steve Jobs, Kendall moves on to profile seven iconic figures, such as founding father Thomas Jefferson, licentious librarian Melvil Dewey, condiment kingpin H. J. Heinz, slugger Ted Williams, and Estee Lauder. This last personality was so obsessed with touching other women's faces that she transformed her compulsion into a multibillion-dollar cosmetics corporation.
Entertaining and instructive, Kendall offers up a few scoops along the way: Little do most Americans know that Charles Lindbergh, under the alias Clark Kent, sired seven children with his three German "wives." As Lindbergh's daughter Reeve told Kendall, "Now I know why he was gone so much. I also understand why he was delighted when I was learning German."
304 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
August 18, 2014
In this book, author Kendall floats the idea that many of America's major accomplishments have been carried out by people with obsessive, detail-oriented, monomaniacal personalities.
Whether he makes that case -- after all, he is cherry picking the most notable examples -- it nevertheless makes for a fascinating read. Some of these stories, like that of gall wasp expert turned sexologist Alfred Kinsey -- I knew some of, but others, like those of cosmetics queen Estee Lauder and Melvil Dewey of the Dewey Decimal System, I knew hardly at all.
Certain themes predominate. Many of the people had troubled childhoods and either emotionally distant or inordinately doting parents. Most of them had a lot of trouble connecting with other people and showed low levels of what we would now call emotional intelligence.
As a result, they tended to focus their outstanding gifts on inanimate objects, and many were compulsive list makers. They also shared a penchant for always being in control. One example: flying hero Charles Lindbergh not only spent more months away from his wife and family than with them, but in the process, secretly started three other families in Europe, and all three women knew that he had had children with the others. He would rigidly visit each family once a year, and when he arrived, he required the women to show him the detailed ledgers he demanded they keep to account for the money he gave them.
Although part of the attraction for me was learning about the detail-oriented H.J. Heinz of Pittsburgh, the most enjoyable chapter was on Ted Williams, the Red Sox hitting genius who was absolutely clueless when it came to romantic relationships and getting along with people in general. As with Lindbergh and his planes and Lauder and her face creams and perfumes, Williams was most attached of all to his bats, and was one of the few major leaguers who was allowed to inspect his bats at the Louisville Slugger factory.
These are well written mini biographies, and the book is well worth your time.
May 22, 2018
This book is for me like if you meet a person and chat with her/him and it is just NICE. I did not liked all chapters as much as the one about Melvil Dewey - it was the reason I read the book in the first place. It is a book about interesting American personalities that I would never have known otherwise. So, it is easy to read and amusing - just nice!
January 7, 2015
I only really liked Jefferson vignette, with Kinsey and Dewey a close second and third. I was bored with the rest of the other vignettes. This book didn't focus so much on obsession in a positive light, instead focusing on obsessions and making them bad and looked down upon, because they were so great but this did this while being great. I do not think the author got his title right, I felt that after I read about people I was disappointed, not uplifted at the American Dream in force or at least that was what the author intended.
ebook.
ebook.
July 8, 2013
methinks this author doth project too much. Also, uses a pejorative term when referring to those on the autism spectrum - really not necessary. But this is not a well-written book by any means.
April 30, 2019
I must admit that when it comes to mental health that Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is not the disease I have the most knowledge of. It must also be admitted that I was not very familiar with most of the personal lives of the people discussed in this book, although the tales are in general very tragic and the author does not in any way downplay or minimize the negative results of the obsessiveness spoken of here, or of the ways in which it was immensely problematic for the people in this book. Moreover, the fact that obsessiveness was so important in the building of the United States (in contrast to other qualities being important to build other nations) suggests that there are some problems with mental health in the very makeup of our culture, which ought to prompt Americans, at least those who read this and the author's other books, to suggest some of the consequences of having so much notable effort coming from people who are not strictly sane and who suffer a great deal for the insights and focus that are provided through their illness. To celebrate in such a situation is also to mourn and to reflect.
The author begins this book by discussing the obsessive innovator and discussing the qualities of the archetypical super achiever. After that there are three parts of the book that are divided into seven biographical essays that take up a bit more than 250 pages of text. The author begins with a discussion of founding fathers and factoid finders, including chapters on the omniscient political organization of Thomas Jefferson (even exploring the inequality of his relationship with Sally Hemmings as representing a key aspect of the obsessive love of control) (1) and the obsessive marketing of Henry Heinz who succeeded in taking and holding a predominant position in ketchup sales (2). After that there are three biographical essays on sex maniacs, with a discussion of the sexual rapacity of Melvil Dewey, whose interest in decimals included a fondness for female librarians who he saw as perfect tens (3), a discussion of Alfred Kinsey and his obsessive orgasm counting (4), and a discussion of Charles Lindbergh and his four families (5). The third part of the book looks at celebrity obsessives in the field of beauty and sports with a discussion of Estée Lauder and her obsessive touching of faces (6) as well as Ted Williams (7). The book then looks at future obsessives and the fact that creating obsessives is difficult, chancy, and abusive.
Reading this book was a rather melancholy experience. For the most part, the people written about here lived unhappy lives despite being immensely successful at what they did. When one combines the high degree of focus and the trouble that obsessive people tend to have in reflecting about their actions and in seeing others as equal partners or appreciating what others do for them. This, of course, means that the achievements of these people are highly colored by often disastrous personal lives. Jefferson's reputation has suffered much in recent years thanks to the discovery that he had a family with a slave mistress. Dewey and Kinsey suffered greatly because of their own sexual perversions and the way that they abused their position to seek sensual pleasure. And on it goes. The greatness of these people in various fields came with it broken relationships and a great deal of personal heartache and drama. The author also notes that obsessive-compulsive disorder tends to come from abusive childhoods, making it a difficult and improper thing to cultivate in future generations, even if it can be convenient in other ways.
The author begins this book by discussing the obsessive innovator and discussing the qualities of the archetypical super achiever. After that there are three parts of the book that are divided into seven biographical essays that take up a bit more than 250 pages of text. The author begins with a discussion of founding fathers and factoid finders, including chapters on the omniscient political organization of Thomas Jefferson (even exploring the inequality of his relationship with Sally Hemmings as representing a key aspect of the obsessive love of control) (1) and the obsessive marketing of Henry Heinz who succeeded in taking and holding a predominant position in ketchup sales (2). After that there are three biographical essays on sex maniacs, with a discussion of the sexual rapacity of Melvil Dewey, whose interest in decimals included a fondness for female librarians who he saw as perfect tens (3), a discussion of Alfred Kinsey and his obsessive orgasm counting (4), and a discussion of Charles Lindbergh and his four families (5). The third part of the book looks at celebrity obsessives in the field of beauty and sports with a discussion of Estée Lauder and her obsessive touching of faces (6) as well as Ted Williams (7). The book then looks at future obsessives and the fact that creating obsessives is difficult, chancy, and abusive.
Reading this book was a rather melancholy experience. For the most part, the people written about here lived unhappy lives despite being immensely successful at what they did. When one combines the high degree of focus and the trouble that obsessive people tend to have in reflecting about their actions and in seeing others as equal partners or appreciating what others do for them. This, of course, means that the achievements of these people are highly colored by often disastrous personal lives. Jefferson's reputation has suffered much in recent years thanks to the discovery that he had a family with a slave mistress. Dewey and Kinsey suffered greatly because of their own sexual perversions and the way that they abused their position to seek sensual pleasure. And on it goes. The greatness of these people in various fields came with it broken relationships and a great deal of personal heartache and drama. The author also notes that obsessive-compulsive disorder tends to come from abusive childhoods, making it a difficult and improper thing to cultivate in future generations, even if it can be convenient in other ways.
May 19, 2019
This is an interesting, sometimes amusing and always entertaining book. I do think the premise, that America has been built on the backs of people with OCPD is a bit of a stretch, but nevertheless each of the individuals covered in the book certainly contributed to our culture in significant ways.
July 1, 2019
A montage of a few successful individuals" Lindbergh, Dewey, Lauder, Ted Williams, Kinsey to name a few. Lindbergh had multiple families and no one knew till 15 years ago. Quick bite size reads on select driven oddballs.
July 22, 2019
Informative. All sorts of interesting facts!
March 16, 2014
I was so intrigued by the concept (despite the ugly cover) until unattributed, subjective blanket statements like this began surfacing:
"Behind every obsessive innovator is a unique constellation of family circumstances that derails normal parent-child bonding."
Really? Every single one of them? (Reminds me of old-timey "refrigerator mother" theories.)
And then, while attempting to differentiate OCPD from ASD, the author quotes and somewhat misinterprets dated textbook criteria...leading me to wonder if he's ever met a person with either disorder. At the very least, his description of autism is presumptive and not anything like the many people with autism/asperger's I have met (including one that lives in my home).
The opening Jobs story had caught my attention but I couldn't get past these disingenuous "facts" that kept popping up in support of the author's weak thesis. For me, these statements discredit the whole darn thing.
I'm so irritated because I approached the book fully bought in to the subject matter, but the clunky "science" and almost hostile tone made me view it more critically ... and I didn't like it one bit. So now it's categorized on my new "abandoned" bookshelf.
These brilliant innovators - and yes, obsessives - deserve better.
"Behind every obsessive innovator is a unique constellation of family circumstances that derails normal parent-child bonding."
Really? Every single one of them? (Reminds me of old-timey "refrigerator mother" theories.)
And then, while attempting to differentiate OCPD from ASD, the author quotes and somewhat misinterprets dated textbook criteria...leading me to wonder if he's ever met a person with either disorder. At the very least, his description of autism is presumptive and not anything like the many people with autism/asperger's I have met (including one that lives in my home).
The opening Jobs story had caught my attention but I couldn't get past these disingenuous "facts" that kept popping up in support of the author's weak thesis. For me, these statements discredit the whole darn thing.
I'm so irritated because I approached the book fully bought in to the subject matter, but the clunky "science" and almost hostile tone made me view it more critically ... and I didn't like it one bit. So now it's categorized on my new "abandoned" bookshelf.
These brilliant innovators - and yes, obsessives - deserve better.
October 26, 2014
9 famous figured with Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder. Every person gets about 30 pages for a short synopsis of their lives with obsessive personality traits a running theme. The family structures of these people are so similar it actually gets a little dull; the men are always neglected in childhood and then go on to marry a woman they end up treating like their mothers. It's fascinating and logical that these childhood traumas are so similar, but not the most exciting read.
There's only one woman in the book: Estee Lauder. She also treated her (male) spouse like her mother, but her female psychological issues introduced some variety in its descriptions of the fascinating pathological liar. I enjoyed this book and learned a lot, but the similarities of those with OCPD toned down the excitement a bit.
There's only one woman in the book: Estee Lauder. She also treated her (male) spouse like her mother, but her female psychological issues introduced some variety in its descriptions of the fascinating pathological liar. I enjoyed this book and learned a lot, but the similarities of those with OCPD toned down the excitement a bit.
August 19, 2013
This book is really a compilation of 20-30 page thumbnail sketches of seven groundbreaking individuals who were successful in their respective fields. There's little overarching narrative or theme, except that the author suggests that all these individuals were successful because of obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. Well, sure, they were driven, detail-oriented, domineering, and sometimes had trouble relating to people. Doesn't that describe just about everyone in history who reached the absolute pinnacle of success in their field? Any of the folks profiled in this book are interesting and complicated enough to warrant their own biography, and I think they all have at least one. I suggest reading those instead.
November 15, 2014
Here's my review of this book.... "meh". Not completely horrible as who doesn't love a peek into famous lives... but that peek was so narrow into one characteristic that the author wanted to explore... that it seemed almost as if he were twisting stories and facts to fit into a pre-conceived narrative.
While I very much enjoyed the chapter on Jefferson and getting a sense for how very much this man influenced the very foundations of our nation, the remaining bios seemed deliberately skewed to the author's own perceptions. Something I was particularly attuned to as one of the chapters was about Lindbergh and I've just read 3 bios recently on the family so felt relatively informed enough to see where the author was making liberties.
Not my favorite.
While I very much enjoyed the chapter on Jefferson and getting a sense for how very much this man influenced the very foundations of our nation, the remaining bios seemed deliberately skewed to the author's own perceptions. Something I was particularly attuned to as one of the chapters was about Lindbergh and I've just read 3 bios recently on the family so felt relatively informed enough to see where the author was making liberties.
Not my favorite.
September 5, 2013
I received this book for free through a Goodreads First Reads giveaway.
I feel as though the title of the book is kind of a misnomer. This book isn't really about building America. It's more about a handful of Americans who use their obsessive energy to be successful.
Even beyond that, the book is a struggle to read. The author has a lot of information about each of the people he profiles and he crams it into a single chapter. The paragraphs are long and convoluted. There's just a lot of information and it's hard to really grasp it all.
The information is interesting and the book is well researched, but I think it might have been better titled and better organized.
I feel as though the title of the book is kind of a misnomer. This book isn't really about building America. It's more about a handful of Americans who use their obsessive energy to be successful.
Even beyond that, the book is a struggle to read. The author has a lot of information about each of the people he profiles and he crams it into a single chapter. The paragraphs are long and convoluted. There's just a lot of information and it's hard to really grasp it all.
The information is interesting and the book is well researched, but I think it might have been better titled and better organized.
August 13, 2013
I wanted to read the chapter about the only woman in the book, Estee Lauder, and it was very interesting. I also read the Prologue which I found fascinating. The figures in this book were results oriented and highly successful. This is opposite to me who belongs in the group of relationship oriented. I am intrigued by how others accomplish things without that relationship oriented part! What is sad is that the obsessive personality type emerges as a result of stressors when the person was very young. Still, those personalities have done great things within the American culture. I like that all the achievers are considered "a little crazy."
January 24, 2016
This wasn't as interesting as I had hoped. I requested the title after seeing it on my dad's Amazon wish list, and it's an intriguing idea. However, the book read like seven short biographies of successful Americans, including Thomas Jefferson, Estee Lauder, Ted Williams, Charles Lindberg, Melvil Dewey, and Alfred Kinsey. The only unifying theme with these Americans was that they were obsessive about details, they became successful, they had difficult childhoods and inattentive mothers (I'm thinking of adopting Dewey's mother's favorite phrase: "Praise to the face is an open disgrace."), and most of them had kinky double lives. Interesting, but mostly meh for me.
July 16, 2013
This book contains interesting "history light" anecdotes about some fascinating people (Thomas Jefferson, Henry Heinz, Melvil Dewey, Alfred Kinsey, Charles Lindbergh, Estée Lauder, and Ted Williams). It is a quick read. If you're looking for some fun facts about any of the seven subjects, this book is for you. If you're looking for good writing or a coherent thesis, take a pass.
October 10, 2013
A bit dull. It's a half-interesting premise, following around various people in US history and charting their OCD-energy. It's written in an extremely boring style, and once you've read a few of the profiles it starts to get very monotonous, especially when the author drags out the pseudo-psychological explanations for people's actions.
August 2, 2016
Brilliant introduction, however, I think I expected more than individual statistics that each OCPD individual kept. This made my own OCPD trigger ridiculous thoughts during the whole audio reading.
Very well written and well read - however, I couldn't glean much from the text due to the overwhelming OCPD writing style.
Very well written and well read - however, I couldn't glean much from the text due to the overwhelming OCPD writing style.
July 15, 2013
The book is really about a bunch of Americans who had bad home life's and did big things later in life- - it isn't that they were 'American'. If you want a short biography on the people in the book - read this -- if you want anything else, pass it up
September 6, 2013
Maybe more of a 2.5-It wasn't a bad book, but I am not really a short-story kind of person, and the chapters profiling different people ended up being kind of disordered, choppy and not very compelling in the shortened format.
June 13, 2014
I picked up this book after hearing an interview with Joshua Kendall on the radio. It sounded fascinating, but as I read past the first chapter I just kept waiting for it to become more interesting, and it never did.
May 3, 2014
I read it mainly to learn more about my hero, Melvil Dewey (flawed hero, I now know), but the other short biographies were also fascinating: Kinsey, Lindbergh, Jobs, Heinz, and Ted Williams. Biographies are no longer hagiographies!
July 4, 2015
A bit too psychoanalytic for me. All the personalities and their disorders were apparently caused by cold mothers and controlling fathers. But the biographical details were interesting, for the most part.
Want to Read
September 12, 2016This was a public library eBook check-out, not a book purchase for me.
August 28, 2013
Now i know that, if I'm a pushy bitch with OCD, I may be able to make my mark. I should get on that.
September 19, 2013
It was interesting but monotonous after first 2-3 bio sketches.
July 17, 2014
Review coming!
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews