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In his bestselling work of "comic sociology," David Brooks coins a new word, Bobo, to describe today's upper class -- those who have wed the bourgeois world of capitalist enterprise to the hippie values of the bohemian counterculture. Their hybrid lifestyle is the atmosphere we breathe, and in this witty and serious look at the cultural consequences of the information age, Brooks has defined a new generation.

Average Customer Rating:

Comic Social Psychology

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This book is a comic look at sociology. David Brooks is one of my favorite conservative thinkers -- he appears during the News Hour on Public TV every Friday night at 6:00 pm. Actually this book is more about Social Psychology than it is about "Comic Sociology". Sociology investigates how people act in groups. Social Psychology investigates how people develop as a result of the social influences around them. This is a funny book about how members of the "Upper Crust" in America are brought up, get married and develop throughout their lives. It's a light funny but scholarly work. The part I like best was a comparison of wedding announcements from 50 years ago and today. If you like to think about how the Yuppies got this way, you'll love this book.

Interesting reading	Customer Rating:
Very interesting take on today's society. Lot's of ideas put in writing that justify what we see going in the world around us.

Paradise-a-BoBo

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"Bourgeois Bohemians" are the Bobos in the title, a combination of wealth and individualism that melds the ethos of the 80's and the 60's. Brooks traces the roots of the conflict back to 18th Century, and paints a funny and accurate picture of the "paradise" the Bobos have created today. Brooks' use of the term "paradise" is partly ironic and partly admiring, and as the book was written and published before 9/11, one wonders which way he would lean now.

Horrible, unsourced, uninformed

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This book is absolutely horrible. Aside from an almost interesting brief history of bohemia (which was sketchy and obviously tailored to the conclusions the author wished to reach, much like the rest of the book) he simply goes into lauding a caricature of rich professionals and somehow equates that with previous bohemian movements - the equation seeming to be that reading Walden makes you a woodsman, and admiring the Beat Generation in college is the same thing as purposefully leading a life outside of consumer culture. He's trying to sell consumption as art, and doing a rather bad job of even that. This book, supposedly of a sociological topic, contains absolutely no hard data. Basically it's a way for Brooks to convince himself that he and those around him can buy coolness and authenticity, hundreds of pages to defend replacing artists with lawyers and pretending there's no difference. If you want something decent about counterculture trends go read either Naomi Klien or Nation of Rebels. If you want something about city trends try American Demographics or maybe Generations. But under no circumstances should you buy this book.

Witty, Intelligent Observations

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A funny, and biting, look into how hippie-era bohemians have morphed their youthful, anti-establishment ideals into a new social framework as they have matured. With the onset of the information age, these Bobos have assumed power in business, politics, and religion, reconciling their lifestyle choices along the way. David Brooks, who ascribes himself to the Bobo class, delivers a book that is gratified with the accomplishments of Bobo culture, critical of its flaws, and hopeful for its future. While critics may point this out as an attempt play both sides of the issue, it is representative of the compromises made a Bobo individual. Avid readers are sure to self-identify with many of the observations in this book. Your head will nod along in agreement with the passages. At times you'll chuckle, while silently worrying about crass trivialities. But as you sort through the implications, you'll realize that Bobo culture is not too bad.