Obsessive self-promotion, an aggressive triggering response, and
retaliatory rants.
"Both sensitive and incisive, beautifully capturing the paradoxical
dynamic of narcissism--that the grandiosity and surrounding bravado
belies an underlying fragility and brittleness." --Kenneth N. Levy, PhD,
Associate Professor, Penn State University; Senior Fellow, Personality
Disorders Institute, Cornell University
Even before Donald Trump entered America's highest office, an
international survey revealed that narcissism is part of the assumed
"national character" of Americans. While only a small number actually
meet the criteria for Narcissistic Personality Disorder, those
exploitive few have a way of gaining center stage in our culture.
Fragile Bully: Understanding Our Destructive Affair With Narcissism in
the Age of Trump looks beyond the sound bites of self-aggrandizing
celebrities and selfish tweets to the real problem of narcissism. We see
past the solo act to the vicious circles that arise in relationships
with a fragile bully, and how patterns like this generate both power and
self-destruction. We also look at the problem of Echo, how so many of us
get hooked by the narcissist, and how variations on the destructive
affair leave both partners dehumanized and diminished. Once we recognize
the steps in each dance, we can break the cycle and allow and the
possibility of true engagement.
