[.ca] On Paradise Drive: How We Live Now (And Always Have) in ... (ISBN 0743227395)

Watery latte, and a big disappointment after "Bobos":
David Brooks' previous book was so well-written, intelligent, and fun (even when we Bobos winced in self-recognition) that the bar was set very high for a sequel. Did Brooks clear the bar? Hell no, he ducked and ran right under it. This busy, busy man became so famous so fast that he didn't bother to thoroughly research and write a satisfying book. Sasha Issenberg of "Philadelphia" magazine has convincingly summarized the factual errors made on one of Brooks' only fact-finding trips for this book. I won't duplicate her findings; Google 'em if you like. Brooks gushes an insincere paean to sprawl suburbs that he wouldn't be caught dead actually living in. He also generalizes heavily from his observations of affluent "inner-ring" suburbs such as Bethesda, Maryland. What little meat clings to the bones of "Paradise" is charred by the BTUs of the author's self-regard. Brooks obviously can write a better book, and he has--it's just not this one. Brooks does earn five stars for the most chilling spousal acknowledgment I've seen in recent years. He thanks his wife, "whose plans for our new house made this book necessary. Just kidding." Just kidding? Brrrr!

Overblown and Pointless:
What exactly is Brooks' point? Book is filled with quotes and references to many other well known authors. Much reference to the worldwide contempt of American's through the eye's of those that feel we work to hard and don't enjoy the cultural aspects of life. So What. A short essay on the subject and an outing at the mall would suffice. Time better spent with George Carlin at the other side of the political spectrum, vastly more entertaining and educational.

Okay if you like cynicism and sarcasm:
David Brooks enjoys observing American culture and then dissecting it. He categorizes our population from the inner cities outward- starting with the "hip" inner city dwellers who have "dread-lock envy," one of the few phrases I enjoyed in the book, and onward to the suburbs and the striving of many Americans for the perfect home and lawn. But his book pales after a few chapters, as he denigrates most all of us as being caught up in the "Achieve-atron" machine of materialism and workaholism. He even gets down on high achieving high school kids who are trying to get into a good college or involved in community service, and feels "the burn" many Americans have for a better place in the future contributes to our high divorce rate and constant job changing. I don't know, the times I have been happiest in my life have been when I am working towards a goal- isn't the fact that Americans have this opportunity what makes this the place many foreigners want to live? Too glum for me..................

Nice Descriptions, Overblown Notions:
This book provides some engaging descriptions, but it is hard for me to find great insight. Brooks collects statistics, often factoids, and blends them into odd groups and categories. It's amusing. The later section that paints a complex picture of the college world is excellent. He asks if the young can find the big, big ideas in their lives. Still, what is America? The 'prosperitization' of America is largely defined in terms of consumption. The conservatives defend this while decrying the death of absolute values, moral values. If people are defining themselves in terms of material things and consumption, the moral crusade is simply a gloss. The same people who want unlimited growth say they favor hard morality. God loves money, apparently. Can anyone deny that money is important in American life? Is Brooks trying to make this more noble than it is? The next section is about bimbos, blondes, and brunettes. I guess this is the set-up for later chapters. On the one hand, the author acknowledges that, in life, there are blonds and brunettes. The blonds float over life, the brunettes take it too seriously. Of course, the intellectuals believe that American life is superficial and empty. The author acknowledges that he is a brunette, but he tries to differerentiate himself from those who see only an empty, materialistic shallowness to America. The author spends too much time defining himself. If you want to take the broad view, America has done what it takes to broadly expand the economy. You can contrast this with Europe. On the other hand, the sprawl and repetitiveness of the American landscape was never a given. There are other ways to build houses and cities. In the West there are serious water issues. The intellectuals and enviros have always over-stated their cases. The political processes have not worked that well, have not taken the long view. Oh, well. So, basically, Americans are not all bad, as intellectuals have said, a billion times. From here, Brooks jumps to the notion that America is truly, uniquely special. He talks about how early preachers honed this notion of the shining city on the hill, the Reagan message in many ways. This little section, the general thrust, is picked up again at the end. The parts of the book before this ending section are the parts where Brooks does some very nice 'participant observer' descriptions. I liked this part very much. But let's examine Brooks' notion that Americans are truly unique. Is that really accurate? American democracy derives from British experience in many ways. But what was the period where America was born? There was a breakdown of religion. Most of the ideas of individualism could not have worked in the Middle Ages, when the church was dominant. America was in the right place at the right time. Because the ideas were conservative, they favored economic progress over 'freedom'. Certainly the French revolution, a few years later, was not disciplined. Why does the Right consistently ignore the fact that America was founded in an age when religion was being challenged? Would deeply religious people really have captured, transportedd, and economically exploited slaves on a grand scale? Would they have engaged in destroying native peoples? I'm sorry, Mr. Brooks, at the time these preachers were addressing the shining city on the hill, what was really happening. But, there is such a thing as progress. Speaking of which, Brooks does sort of ignore the intellectual aspects of the Progressive Movement, which did change some things. Intellectuals today have no real programs to change the various things Brooks descriibes. Going from a nation whose intellectual foundations favor economic activity, to saying that we are the shining city on the hill? That's a stretch. In the South, we had slaves. In the north they built ships to transport slaves. How many Americans had misgivings about the existing native populations, and what was happening to them? Wasn't economic success what really mattered? Have we overcome some of this? Are we still working through it? Why do we have to think of ourselves as perfect, Mr. Brooks? I tend to think that this notion of America as 'too' special, takes us to Iraq, where we expected to be met by cheering throngs and roses at our feet. It's far too rosy a picture, that. When you assume that you have all the answers, there is no need to listen to anyone else. There are too many other people in the world to take an attitude that we offer the only path to glory. George Bush ran on a platform which proposed to be more humble in the world. Maybe events overtook him. In some ways, Brooks is an apologist for the Right. There's no problem that Brooks does not acknowledge, actually, in this book. If he wants to say we are 'still' special, that's fine, but I'm not sure how significant it is. If materialism goes too far, something will come along to counter it. If the Bobos need a book like this to feel good about themselves, that's fine. But Brooks does ask a lot of interesting questions, like whether young people should not consider lives of total devotion to a great cause. He has it both ways, but maybe that is how he makes his points

Entertaining, Comic Sociology about Americans' Drive:
America is a land of contrasts, according to David Brooks. And in this book of "comic sociology," which is chock-full of wry, witty & entertaining descriptions of modern-day America and Americans, he explores these contrasts & our national character. On one hand, the United States is the dominant force in the world on many fronts --- technologically, economically, militarily. Americans are restless, energetic, hard-working, religious, and readily change homes & careers while chasing opportunity. On the other hand, though, America's critics claim that we are materialistic, vapid, money-grubbing, shallow-souled, self-indulgent, vulgar, superficial, and blindly-optimistic. We have high marriage rates, but high divorce rates; high incomes but low saving; we are productive but wasteful. We are a land of Bart Simpson, boob-jobs, Disney, and McDonalds. How can we reconcile these two points of view? To do so, Brooks reframes our material longings, and claims that our baubles are surface products of a spiritual striving for perfection. Americans believe in the gospel of progress, in continuously improving ourselves, in manifesting our destiny, in improving our lot, and in bending the world to fit our imaginations of a future nirvana. Americans don't solve problems - they leave them in the past, move to a new place, start a new job or company. Life is plastic - and we make out of it what we will in order to realize our potential. Brooks then takes us on a tour to show how you can see signs of this striving in the people, stores, and the suburbs of America. You can see it in the Uber-moms in the suburbs, former executives who pour their energy into perfect parenting, grooming their children for success by shuttling them to appropriate adult-supervised activities. You see it in conscientious career-oriented college students more likely to climb the system, not buck it like college students of the 60's did. You see it in the malls & in magazines, in images of perfect products. Those images arouse our secret aspirations to buy the right fashions, use the right diet, drive the right car, have the perfect lawn, and in the process transform ourselves from ugly caterpillars into a shimmering butterflies. Brooks points out that America is a future-oriented, fantasy factory. Moreso than anywhere else, we live in a culture of dreams, plans, innovations, improvements, and grand visions of things to come or become. Paradise is always just over the next ridge with the next home or job or credit-card purchase or spouse or SUV or beer or motivational seminar. The cash register does ring, but it's just the gateway on the path to paradise, where material prosperity will be joined with virtue, understanding, and self-fulfillment. At least that's our secret hope. The downside of this view is that American restlessness never sleeps; there's always more improvement to be had, says Brooks. And in this relentless quest, we may forget the purpose of one's own life, use only money as a sign of accomplishment, remain discontented with our material success and still have a lingering desire for more achievement. Although some critics say Americans should slow down, Brooks says that's antithetical to the optimistic, climbing nature of American life. Instead, he suggests Americans should connect their ascents to a larger mission beyond themselves, realized across generations or institutions. Overall, I enjoyed this book. My only complaints are that Brooks leaves his most entertaining conclusions and arguments to the final chapters, and I think if he hinted at his points earlier on, it would have helped frame the points he makes in the first few chapters --- I felt those chapters wandered a bit while I was reading them. But after finishing the book, I thought his main points were clear, and the book was worthwhile. Of course I could argue some of the points he makes, but right away he points out that this is a work of "comic sociology," not a political or academic text. As such, I was entertained, even if I didn't share all his views. In any case, if you enjoy his NY Times column or enjoyed his last book, then you should give this one a try.