Synopses & Reviews
Be thinner, smarter, and sexier now with this irresistible collection of ready-to-use tips and tricks from the optimistic golden age of self-improvement, when a better you was never more than three steps, fifteen minutes, or a lie-down on the Magic Couch away. Yes You Can is a jaw-dropping, life-changing gallery of material from books, records, advertising, and gadget packaging from the 1920s-1970s—before the modern complex and endless recovery— when you could still Solve Your Sex Problems with Self-Hypnosis or Raise Children in Your Spare Time. Author Jennifer McKnight-Trontz assembles over 200 color and black-and-white illustrations and real charts, tips, and advice. Mind-expanding and waist-reducing, Yes You Can is here to help.
Review
USWEEKLY
Leigh Russell
Win friends and influence people with this cunningly designed collection of twentieth-century self-improvement guides.
If you've ever wanted your therapist to just tell you what to do already or felt that 12 steps are a few too many, you'll appreciate Jennifer McKnight-Trontz's yearning for an earlier era of positive thinking, quick fixes and glossy advice pamphlets. As this impressive, funny collection of self-help literature illustrates, personality was considered as malleable as postwar plastic in self-improvement's heyday (circa 1920 to 1970), and many believed that a bright smile, an optimistic outlook or a vibrating machine could solve just about anything. The dates quality of these slickly packaged guidesfeaturing cheerful, cleanshaven men and efficient, bright-eyed womenwill undoubtedly amuse: ads for Toosh, the padded panty; books with such ominous titles as Mastery of People; entire treatises on "how to help your husband relax" and what to do "when a fellow gets fresh." (Simply say "Not now, Ambroselet's go get a hamburger.") Still, you might be surprised at how many of these tips seem sensible and wise even today.
About the Author
Jennifer McKnight-Trontz is a writer and designer living in south Florida whose books include Hang in There!, How to Be Popular, Yes You Can, and The Good Citizen's Handbook.