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De Graaf, producer of the PBS documentaries “Affluenza” (1996) and “Escape from Affluenza” (1998); David Wann, a former EPA staffer and expert on sustainable lifestyles; and Thomas H. Naylor, professor emeritus in economics at Duke, have assembled an updated and more in‐depth look at the epidemic of overconsumption sweeping the United States and the rest of the world, based on de Graaf’s documentaries. They define “affluenza” as “a painful, contagious, socially‐transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety, and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more” and examine the spiraling cycle of overconsumption, spending, stress, and broken relationships caused by America’s obsession with uncontrolled economic growth at any cost.
