Anne Manne’s provocative and unsettling account of how and why narcissism develops in individuals and manifests in society draws heavily on the findings of international psychologists. Their findings echo her own belief that consumer capitalism has changed childrearing patterns and the structure of authority so profoundly over recent decades that narcissism is now embedded as a desirable character trait for modern life.

Mass murderers, sports stars, celebrities and CEOs come under scrutiny. It’s bad news for blokes. Most of Manne’s narcissists, with the exception of Ayn Rand, are men, but the conditions that allow narcissism to flourish may not always be what we expect. While Manne isn’t suggesting that everyone is suffering from clinically diagnosable narcissism, the links she draws between insecure family attachments, a rise in affluence and a fall in empathy are disturbing. Parents, especially working women, and feminists too, will find some uneasy reading here.

Amid the grim statistics are some lighter moments. The fact Kanye West would choose to write ‘creative genius’ on all his travel documents, though couldn’t spell it correctly, made me laugh. And as your bed cushions and BBQs get bigger, your willingness to give to others diminishes and your sense of entitlement grows.

Manne’s breadth of research and commentary is incredibly ambitious: her connection of seemingly disparate elements – sexual violence, reality TV, luxury homewares and climate change – is staggering. Although the threads feel unwieldy at times, Manne’s passion for her subject never wavers – her blistering analysis of the corrosive effects of neoliberalism is a highlight. Her belief that we are on a deeply troubling trajectory, one that can only be corrected by the rightful re-positioning of core human values such as love, kindness, generosity and altruism, is a compelling one.

Sally Keighery is a freelance reviewer.