Downshifting: Reinventing Success on a Slower Track

Disillusioned by the greedy, high-pressure Reagan years in which yuppie go-getters pursued success at all costs, Saltzman, an editor at U.S. News and World Report , hails the quiet rebellion of ``downshifters'' in a timely, perceptive report. While some professionals who came to feel trapped by their own achievements escaped by dropping out of the rat race altogether, the author singles out 20 men and women--journalists, doctors, lawyers, academics, salespeople--who have changed both goals and pace to achieve a better-balanced life. Some opted to move down a few steps on the professional ladder or to forgo a promotion that would involve increased stress. Most, she states, including those who became self-employed or relocated to a less hectic environment, claim to value challenges of their own making over rewards for conventional labor--along with the allure of flexible time. (Feb.)