The Golden Age of the American Leisure Economy

Tuberculosis was the most lethal disease in america. A network of western resorts popped up to pamper people as they died. But then we discovered that tuberculosis wasn't a noble inheritance. It was actually a bacteria that you can catch, which made the disease seem yucky and not worth pampering. So these resorts switched their marketing materials. They started catering to the overworked business man and society woman who were suffering from neurostenia. That is where America's leisure economy comes from. And it's where andrew sullivan's meditation retreat came from.