Prof. McAdams starts with an interesting thesis, that there is a bundle of personality traits and psychological processes that leads to some people being particularly successful and resiliant, in a particularly American way. By creating autobiographical stories of redemption, he argues that people are particularly effective in society and particularly effective in the face of challenges. However, after this interesting thesis is introduced, the argument stops there, to be replaced by 150 pages of case studies and speculation. Is there any evidence that these character traits are, in fact, particularly American? Can people change, or if you're not one of his chosen people, are you doomed to failure? Are these personality traits genetically or culturally driven, and by parents or peers? How much of the variance in success and happiness can be explained by the scores of his rating test? Are the "exceptions" to his general rule interesting at all? Although I find the context of this research program interesting, I find the actual research more than a little frustrating.

As a self-help book, it might have some worth. But that's not my cup of tea. ( )