EW's GRADE
B-

Details Writer: Jennifer Mcknight-Trontz; Genres: Nonfiction, Self-Help and Psychology; Publisher: Chronicle Books

With doctors and pseudo-experts clogging best-seller charts, we seem to be in the midst of a self-help heyday. Jennifer McKnight-Trontz's Yes You Can is a kitschy compilation of life-changing books and gadgets revisits the era when ''self-help beamed its best, most hopeful smile,'' the 1920s to the 1970s. For every issue there was a solution, even ''Reduce Through Listening,'' a record that melted away pounds. Despite the book's retro allure, its intended audience remains a mystery: Camp-craving cynics will probably lose interest, and self-help devotees will despair at how much yesterday's promises sound just like today's. B-

Originally posted Sep 01, 2000 Published in issue #557 Sep 01, 2000 Order article reprints

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