Is ubiquitous optimism bad for America? We’ll talk this hour with writer Barbara Ehrenreich whose new book is “Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America” (Metropolitan Books, 2009).

Is the desire for collective joy innate in human beings? Acclaimed writer Barbara Ehrenreich thinks so. Her latest work “Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy” (Metropolitan Books, 2007) explores the origins of what was in the past expressed in ecstatic rituals and festivities – activities that are disappearing from the human experience. […]