In Rise Above: Overcome a Victim Mindset, Empower Yourself, and Realize Your Full Potential (Penguin, 2025), psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman delivers a timely and incisive critique of what he calls “victim mindset culture”—the growing tendency for individuals to view themselves primarily through the lens of past hurts and limitations, rather than as active agents in their own growth and transformation.

Kaufman, a well-respected cognitive psychologist and prolific science communicator, is no stranger to the landscape of self-actualization and human potential. His previous books, including Transcend and Wired to Create, explored the pathways to fulfillment, intelligence, and creativity. In Rise Above, Kaufman turns his focus to what he sees as a new societal epidemic. Our culture has become rich in therapeutic language to describe our experiences, but this language has become mired in resignation, blame, and passive self-limitation.

The first half of Rise Above examines the roots and repercussions of a victim mindset. Kaufman’s approach is both compassionate and direct. He acknowledges the real pain of

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