A collection of nine original essays, this is an enlightening, unforgettable trip through the river of self-delusion that surges just beneath the surface of our lives. This is a book about the incentives that shape us, and about how hard it is to see ourselves clearly through a culture that revolves around the self. In each essay, Tolentino writes about a cultural prism: the rise of the nightmare social internet; the advent of scamming as the definitive millennial ethos; the literary heroine’s journey from brave to blank to bitter; the punitive dream of optimization, which insists that everything, including our bodies, should become more efficient and beautiful until we die.

The I in internet -- Reality TV me -- Always be optimizing -- Pure heroines -- Ecstasy -- The story of a generation in seven scams -- We come from old Virginia -- The cult of the difficult woman -- I thee dread.