Long banished from polite society, anger is making a comeback – at least in the pages of Sam Parker’s new book. He argues that learning to welcome our anger could be the most radical act of self-care yet.
In a culture that’s become fluent in the language of mental health, anger remains a taboo – rarely discussed, often misunderstood, usually sidelined as something to be suppressed.
Sam Parker, a journalist for GQ, is determined to change that. In his new book Good Anger, Parker argues that anger can be a vital force for personal growth, happiness and even professional success. The book is part memoir, part manifesto – and entirely a product of its cultural moment: an era when we’ve learned to hashtag our sadness and destigmatise our anxiety, but still treat anger like a contagious rash. An era when, at dinner parties, say, anger has been the unruly guest we’re expected to leave at the door – the one who might knock over the wine and say aloud what everyone else only thinks.
For Parker, the journey to writing Good Anger was as much personal as it was professional – a reckoning with his own history of anxiety, and a challenge to the mental health orthodoxy that left anger out in the cold. In this interview, we explore the personal tipping points and cultural shifts that compelled him to write Good Anger now, and why he believes it’s time to bring this powerful emotion out of the shadows.
