The Authenticity Hoax: How We Get Lost Finding Ourselves

By Andrew Potter

One of Canada's hippest, smartest cultural critics takes on the West's defining value.

We live in a world increasingly dominated by the fake, the prepackaged, the artificial: fast food, scripted reality TV shows, Facebook "friends," and fraudulent memoirs. But people everywhere are demanding the exact opposite, heralding "authenticity" as the cure for isolated individualism and shallow consumerism. Restaurants promote the authenticity of their cuisine, while condo developers promote authentic loft living and book reviewers regularly praise the authenticity of a new writer's voice.

International bestselling author Andrew Potter brilliantly unpacks our modern obsession with authenticity. In this perceptive and thought-provoking blend of pop culture, history, and philosophy, he finds that far from serving as a refuge from modern living, the search for authenticity often creates the very problems it's meant to solve.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Apr 6, 2010
• ISBN: 9781551993478

Andrew Potter

Andrew Potter is the coauthor of the international bestseller Nation of Rebels. A journalist, writer, and teacher, he lives in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter (@jandrewpotter).

Reviews for The Authenticity Hoax

[oddbooks · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Reasonably interesting look at how it is a quest for a more authentic life often leaves us feeling dissatisfied. I'm still digesting it but ultimately I think I agree with the notion that excessive identification with a specific notion of being, like health veganism, crunch granola mommies, and similar, lead to self-absorption and makes social contact difficult. But I'm still thinking about whether or not I agree wholly with the author's perspective.

[liso_16 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I spent about 15% of this book looking up definitions, 30% enjoying the thorough analysis of all things "authentic", and 55% of the time wondering if Mr. Potter was just trying to out-cool everyone else by denying the existence of cool.

It's a rambling book, that definitely seems to get lost in philosophy and a stalwart defense of the status quo.

There are some gems, to be sure, but they're subject to the same mile-wide-but-inch-deep treatment as the rest of the book.