This book details the battle one must fight to be an independent thinker, showing how an honest reassessment of what it means to be a professional in today's corporate society can be remarkably liberating. Poignant examples from the world of work reveal the workplace as a battleground for the very identity of the individual. Schmidt contends that professional work is inherently political-that the unstated duty of professionals is to maintain strict "ideological discipline. " Career dissatisfaction evolves as workers lose control over the political component of their creative work. After reading this insightful book, no one who works for a living will ever think the same way about their job. Jeff Schmidt lives in Washington, D. C. , where he is an editor for Physics Today.