Rating: 
Summary: We Are All Bobos Now
Review: To those who might be tempted to set aside "Bobos in Paradise" as yet-another bestselling compilation of trendy anecdotes, I have one word: Don't. This is the best darn non-fiction writing I have read in years. David Brooks has a real gift for pulling the reader in, and on what seems like every page there is a story that made me scream out in agreement, and often with laughter. Brooks does a fine job chronicling the idiosyncracies of this new "bourgeois bohemian" class and covers the variety and the intricacy of its new cultural tapestry very nicely.Two parts of the book were quite striking to me. The first is Brooks' biography of the public intellectual, which was absolutely dead-on, even as it strayed from the premise of the book in describing a lifestyle not at all unique to "Boboism." The second is his chapter on spiritual life, which highlighted the most poignant contradictions of this New Class. Bobos are the first to assert their individuality and yet yearn for a new sense of community -- for the simpler life of the small town. Bobos also exhibit a deep spirituality but often take it upon themselves to decide which of the Bible's teachings are right and which ones are wrong. At the heart of Brooks' critique is that at some point, Bobos will have to choose: they can have a revival of the settled communities and the fixed religiosity (with eternal salvation, damnation, and everything in between) for which they yearn, but they will also have to accept the modicum of monotony and routinization that comes with it -- and which they have spent their lives to date resisting. One of Brooks' most searing insights is that old leftist haunts like Burlington, Cambridge and Greenwich Village are becoming one with (formerly) conservative suburbs like Wayne, Pa. or Winetka, Ill., both in their worldliness and in their outward appreciation of offbeat lifestyles. Boboism is indeed very widespread, and one of the ideas that Brooks doesn't completely explore is how both sides of the political spectrum are picking up "bohemian" ideas, and particularly the right. Dinesh D'Souza's The Virtue of Prosperity celebrates the marriage of capitalist business with bohemian ideals of chaos and creativity. Virginia Postrel's The Future and Its Enemies assails stodgy technocrachy and touts what F.A. Hayek called "free growth and spontaneous evolution" as its alternative. How very "Bobo" indeed.
Rating:
Summary: Laugh at Yourself
Review: "Bobos" serves up astute social criticism with wit and charm. Brooks has a lot of important things to say about how life has changed in America in the last thirty years. (For instance, how the adoption of the SAT unleashed a powerful rise of a meritocracy class and an achievement obsessed culture.) But it is Brooks' masterful and hysterical prose that makes this book so worthwhile. His good-natured satire of new age materialism is particularly inspired. Chances are something in this book will hit close to home and make you laugh about your family, your friends, and yourself.
Rating: 
Summary: Delightful ramblings of a bobo
Review: Mao Tse-tung was once asked what he thought the consequences were of the French Revolution. "Too early to say", was his response. Non-revisionist generational outlooks are difficult indeed. They tend to fall into one of three categories: The blurred (i.e. everything these days is just so muddled together that it's impossible to make some kind of generalisation about what's going on, i.e. Blur by Chris Meyer and Stan Davis); the lamenting (everything is going straight to hell and we're along for the ride, i.e. No Logo or Fast Food Nation) and those void of any critical analysis whatsoever (i.e. Funky Business by Nordstrom and Ridderstrale). Can you blame them? Analytical objectivity takes ages to master, as any psychoanalyst can attest to. Chairman Mao's statement underlines the difficulty in trying to put things into historical perspective. Bobo's in Paradise is an uplifting example of how these weaknesses can be turned into an advantage. The book is blurry, generalist, uncritical and, an absolute delight to read. David Brooks is a full-fledged bobo himself. Although this is never quite articulated, one can piece together enough evidence in the text to put together a solid case. The bohemian bourgeoisie is nicely summed up by Brooks as having "the bohemian need to experience new things combined with the bourgeoisie need to achieve". Everything, Brooks continues, that bobo's touch or tamper with "turn into soul". This "Reverse Midas"-syndrome is a way of describing the mid-/ upper-class' self-importance in the latest decades. Never have so many people fought on the last rung of the Maslowian ladder. Never have so trivial and trite things as kitchen utensils or skiing equipment been loaded with so much "meaning". Something is indeed rotten in the state of Boboland. What gives Brooks' work its charm is first and foremost his literary style. Written in a sort of mock-generational study language, the words savour with wit and sarcasm. But Brooks never succumbs to ridicule or prejudice. Behind each comment and observation lies an insight that can only have been gained from being there. If a non-Bobo would have written this, the book would more likely have fallen prey to the less interesting accusational/ political trap. Bobo's in paradise works at its best when read as an entertaining observation. Using the book as basis for all other discussions, important as they may be, should be avoided.
Rating: 
Summary: Brooks has his classes mixed up
Review: David Brooks, I believe, wrongly characterizes Bobo's as the new upper class. However, every description he gives of Bobo's screams Upper Middle Class. As much as he would like to think that the Old Money WASP society has faded away, that is just not the case, and he gives no hard evidence to back up his arguments. He is too involved and entrenched in Bobo-ism himself to gain a proper and accurate perspective. I'm not defending the values or beliefs of Old Money or WASP society, but to say that they have been replaced by Bobo's is ridiculous. Bobo's may characterize a portion of the American Upper Class (if, by "class" we're talking strictly economic values), but they are by no means the definition of today's Upper class. I think Brooks likes Bobo's, and he likes being one, which leads him to (wrongly) believe they have taken over. Anyway, there is some funny stuff in this book, and is entertaining, despite its inaccuracy.
Rating:
Summary: Read it now!!!!
Review: This is an intelligent, perceptive, and funny take on an emerging social class. Suffice to say that Mr. Brooks writes in a jaunty/upbeat manner in this often-hilarious book of "comic sociology". I truly enjoyed his hilarious chapters on the buying habits of the bob and his descriptions of the new "latte towns". When hippies in Burlington demonstrate a real business sense you know a new world order has been established. Mr. Brooks closes with serious and thoughtful discussions on the role of religion (flexidoxy) in a Bobo's life, and on their political beliefs (Burkean conservatism). I highly recommend this excellent book.
Rating:
Summary: Other than that, it's useless!
Review: Bobos only tells us where we came from, where we are and where we're going. Other than that it's useless! To those folks who evaluate ideas on their research pedigree and not their merit, I can only agree with Emerson: "Consistency is the hobgoblin of a little mind."
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant insights into 21st century American sociology.
Review: I must share space with those readers who see in Brook's thesis a very sharpe and insightful probe into what constitutes contemporary America's geist. I do believe that Brook's has succeeded in illuminating the social constructions of a society, that for better or worse determines the pathways of our world. I was very absorbed by his dissection of the "war" that has taken place between old knowledge and the newer post WWII knowledge of the educated elite. Of coursee elites whether new or old are going to throw their new wealth at places that can be severely criticised and lauged at but Brookes is simply showing us what has taken place not trying to defend what he has observed going on around him. Don't kill the ambassador because you don't like the message. Given America's extraordinary power in the post-WWII world it is incumbant on an author/scholar to attempt to make sense of what is going on in this mammoth historical engine of our times and I believe David Brooks has done a brilliant job of elucidating the many factors constituting it's nature.
Rating:
Summary: Truth is often funnier than fiction
Review: After carefull consideration, I probally qualify as a bobo because of my alternating convictions for bohemian and material comforts, and the realization that today's market is feeding that contradiction. Geared towards my father and other like minded baby-boomers, this cultural merger is also waiting for my generation to reach majority status, so we too can become highly aquisitive consumers. For better or for worse, the author could have taken a more serious and critical attitude, but his free admittance of bobo status is meant to assure the reader that nobody is perfect, but we all must work together if there are going to be serious efforts to undo the more destructive components of this mindset. America is not exactly known for being receptive to class studies, and the author is smart enough to package this radical topic in a seemingly benign package poking fun at familiar elements of pop culture. While it is not as direct as Marx, Keyes, Greenspan or other ecconomic theorists, this book is also concerned with the study of money and power.
Rating: 
Summary: Very light on substance
Review: I did not like this book. It was so unresearched and rambling. What is his thesis grounded in?! Certainly not any reputable research. He just seems to make observations and throw out ideas hither and thither. This is a cotton candy book that has an interesting premise but does not deliver the goods.
Rating:
Summary: Sociological Comedy
Review: Brooks calls his book comic sociology. As sociology this is bad stuff. But as comedy, I admit that I smiled and laughed my way through most of this book. First, the comedy: this book is full of subtle observations and discrete mockery of people we all know. Who can avoid laughing at the description of those "bobos" that install stainless steel fridges in their kitchens (what Brooks calls the "texture of culinary machismo"), drive SUVs, eat "Rain Forest Crunch" and buy their "Fair Trade" Coffee at Starbucks? You know people like this. You might even be one! For added comedy, the word "bobo" means "fool" in Spanish and Portuguese. Brooks is at his funniest when he is mocking these "bobos", making fun of their customs and habits, and showing readers how ridiculous our behavior can be sometimes. This book becomes dull, vague, and just plain wrong as soon as Brook attempts to draw high-brow, broad sociological conclusions from all of his game and jest. At first the funny moments far out-wieghed the heavy thesis-statements about the fusion of bohemian and bourgeois values. But after a few chapters Brooks loses his sense of humor and begins pushing his misguided theses without so much as a smile. By the end, I had forgotten about the funny parts (mostly towards the beginning) and realized that Brooks actually believes that the bourgeois-bohemian tension that has endured two hundred years in western societies has actually been reconciled in a Hegelian historical synthesis, that such a synthesis is for the good of all, and that the bobos (read: the baby boomers) are responsible for this noble social innovation. One never gets a clear sense who the "bobos" really are. At one point, wealthy computer whizzes from the California engineering schools are "bobos". Later, people like actor Peter Coyote (who started his career with the Diggers in Haight Ashbury now is a very marketable talent in Hollywood) are the new "bobos". Then Stamford Connecticut wives are bobos. Then green grocers in Latte Towns are bobos. Then Harvard lawyers who like to engage in adventure travel on their vacations are bobos. Eventually, one gets the sense that "bobo", "bourgeois" and "bohemian" are just broad blanket terms which can be redifined at Brooks' convenience to make whatever point he wants to make. We could all be "bobos" based on Brooks' notions of the word. It is a sociology of convenience. I have my own explanations for many of Brooks' claims, especially about why the upper class doesn't seem so WASPy any more. Brooks claims that opening up the floodgates to the barbarians at schools like Harvard resulted in a displacement of the WASP upper class with a more enlightened upper class of philosopher kings (and queens). Nonsense. One change which Brooks gives no weight to is the rise in two income families, especially among the college-educated classes. When both parents work, each only has to earn half as much to enjoy the same lifestyle. The result is a ballooning population of incomer earners in the over $100,000 per year bracket. These newcomers to the upper class reflect consumer patterns that are markedly different from the old WASP consumer patterns because many of these new rich are not WASPs. They bring to their new upper class lifestyle a set of values that was formed in different cultural and class contexts - mid-century jewish New York, late 20th century southern california, Polish Chicago. But such a thesis is banal. Are the faces, attitudes, and behaviors of the upper class changing? Most certainly, and it is amusing and interesting to observe such changes, joke about such changes, and even speculate on why such changes are happening. Is it because of some Hegalian historical change between the forces of bourgeoisie and bohemia? Not at all. Bohemia continues to thrive, marginalized by the bourgeoisie (as always). And the new bourgeoisie continues to be as ostentatious, condescending, elitist, and conservative as ever, driving their Land Rovers, living in 3,000 square foot homes, lamenting the arrival of electricity and running water to the quaint Costa Rican village they visited once on their $......./head ecotourism adventure, and donating generously to the new, pro-business democrat party of Bill & Hilary Clinton. All in all, this was a fun read, for the first 100 pages or so.
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