It shouldn’t surprise you, but another book has been written, exposing the SHAM. Al Mohlher reviews SHAM: How the Self-Help Movement Made America Helpless:

 

Steve Salerno is a reporter with wide experience. As a freelance
feature writer, Salerno has written for magazines including Harper’s,
Esquire, Sports Illustrated, and many others. He has contributed
articles to the Los Angeles Times and The Wall Street Journal. Many of
his articles have focused upon “money stories,” that deal with
financial scandals and controversies in the business world. Now, he is
ready to report on the biggest scandal he has ever
encountered–America’s self-help movement.

Salerno writes: “In
twenty-four years as a business writer and an investigative journalist,
I have covered all kinds of ‘money stories.’ I have written about
boondoggles on bankers’ row and sleight of hand at Seventh Avenue
fashion houses. I’ve written about the gyrations of the stock market as
well as the myriad forces that surround, yet never quite explain,
investing itself. I’ve written about money as it relates to sales,
money as it relates to sports, money as it relates to music, money as
it relates to love. It’s safe to say that if it involves money,
combined with some form of human aspiration, I’ve probably written
about it.”

Nevertheless, Salerno’s experience in reporting
still left him amazed when he confronted an industry whose story
“represents the ultimate marriage of money and aspiration.” That story
is the rise and dominance of what he calls the “Self-Help and
Actualization Movement”–identified in his book by the acronym SHAM.

The whole review is worth reading, even if you decide to skip the book.