Rating: 
Summary: Challenging, thought provoking and polarizing
Review: It's been interesting to see the reactions to this book, both here at Amazon and at other Childfree and childed sites on the net. Certainly, Burkett makes a compelling case. She argues, quite correctly IMHO, that we have evolved to an era of, what she calls, "affirmative action for parents." She simply asks why that is, and why that should be. Sometimes, however, she does so in exceedingly strident tones (which is why the four star, not five star, rating). At times, then, the book can seem as self-centered as the affluent boomers she seeks to skewer. As a forty-plus childfree baby boomer, this book echoed much of the resentment I feel, both in the workplace and with our elected officials. However, Burkett moves beyond this. She talks about the poor, whose children reap little of the government's largesse, and, to a lesser extent, the elderly and older empty-nesters, who received no such assistance. In fact, I wish she would have addressed the older age cohort a little more. People my parents age, or even grandparent ages, who raised larger families, generally on one income, in times more difficult than those we live in today. One wonders what they would say about affluent boomer parent selfishness. One wonders what they would say about their children feeling the government owed them something just for having children. I don't think their words would be terribly kind. Burkett does us a favor by questioning these "family friendly" assumptions. She forces the argument. The best chapter, "No Kidding," should be required reading for both parties on the parenting fence. Maybe then parents will realize what life is like for those of us who have chosen to be childfree. Maybe then parents will realize that a world exists beyond just their own children.
Rating:
Summary: required reading for human resources departments
Review: Burkett addresses two separate issues that affect the childfree: government policies and corporate sponsership of parenthood. While sometimes her tone gets a bit strident, and her complaints can be repetitive, the overall message is an important one that is frequently overlooked. Adults who choose to live a childfree life are often obliged to play second fiddle to the loud and proud parents in our midst. Burkett never says that parents don't deserve various benefits; her message is that childfree folks deserve comparable benefits to choose from. More employers are offering parents such treats as flex time, 4-day work weeks, adoption and fertility treatment assistance, subsidized child care and education, and extended paid and unpaid leave while offering non-parent employees absolutely nothing. It seems obvious that if a minority (according to Burkett's stats) of the workforce is being presented with these benefits, then it's only fair to provide the entire workforce with a package of benefits with a similar dollar value. Linking these corporate offerings with government attempts at everything from forcing employers to offer special rooms for breastfeeding workers to Clinton's attempt at making parents a "protected" class of citizens, Burkett has managed to compile a wealth of information that adds up to some pretty heavy discrimination. Don't read it and weep- read it and forward it along to the head of human resources wherever you work.
Rating: 
Summary: Parents deserve equal treatment, not priviledged treatment
Review: Burkett did an excellent job of exposing the truth that family- friendly policies have little to do with helping children and more to do with cooing the votes of the baby boomers, the majority of which happen to have them. I believe that people should be able to pursue careers and be parents, but they have to figure out a way to make it work on their own. Parenting requires sacrifices that are the responsibility of those who choose to have the children. The decision to become a parent is a lifestyle choice. Everybody has to take responsibility for their choices. I believe in family policies that help the poor and low income families- if I knew my tax dollars were helping poor parents feed, clothe, and educate their children, I would have no complaints. But I detest the fact that I will continue to pay more in taxes than those who have exactly the same income as I do simply because they have children and I don't. I , like the author, am a feminist who believes in equal pay for equal work. All employees should get equal benefits which they have the ability to take advantage of whether they have children or not.
Rating:
Summary: Much Needed Opening Salvo
Review: Burkett's book provides the opening a lot of people have been looking for--a starting point to re-evaulate our society's obsession with children at the expense of everyone and everything else. Does some anger and frustration show through occasionally? Of course--as it did when other unfairly treated groups spoke up for their rights and more equitable treatment in American society.Burkett has the courage to point out what many people secretly feel, but has been verboten to publicly state: that children are neither the center of the universe, nor the purpose of existence. They are an option--one that some choose to explore and others do not. Incredibly, as Burkett documents, too many overprivileged parents who already benefit from so-called "family-friendly" workplaces can only complain that they deserve even more because of their noble "calling" and virtuous sacrifice. Raising the next generation is neither a noble and sacred duty, nor even a particularly valuable service--and that's even assuming that parents try to make such claims of unselfish motive in the first place. If there's one thing we don't need more of on this planet, it's people. The workplace issue is where such problems are most visible. Does the mother who puts her child first and career second sometimes pay for that decision with fewer promotions and opportunities? Of course, and that's as it should be. Corporations aren't obliged to allow for the difference in professional dedication between employees, still less to somehow "make up" for them. If childfree people wind up with more take-home disposable income than parents do, it's because of the individual choices each person has made; corporations pay for work performed, not mouths to feed. Or should we return to the days when men were automatically paid twice as much as (or more than) women because "Ted has a family to support?" The anti-feminist slant of our society's current push for increased family friendliness is not lost on Burkett, and the irony would be funny if it weren't so frustrating. Kudos again for opening the door to a long-awaited discussion!
Rating:
Summary: An Island of Sanity
Review: Burkett is thorough and eloquent in her detailing the illogical social trend of rewarding those who add to the number of people using our finite resources and punishing those who abstain from such behavior. If our pronatalist society continues to marginalize the childfree and treat them as second class citizens, those citizens will surely fight back. Let Burkett's book serve as a warning to the powers that be that one segmant of the population cannot be abused for the benefit of another segment. Most important points: 1. "Woman" and "mother" and not synonomous, and mother-friendly policies are not necessarily woman-friendly policies. 2. There is nothing *wrong* with people who choose not to produce offspring. 3. Tax benefits and other charitible motions should be focused on the poor, not the parents. There are poor both with and without children, as well as wealthy folk with and without children. Instead of giving advantages to everyone with children, the advantages should be given to everyone who is poor. That is, childed status does not determine need - income level does. That's the nutshell version anyhow. An excellent reminder to us all that all people deserve fair treatment regardless of their reproductive activities.
Rating:
Summary: A feminist whines...
Review: What a delightfully fiendish little book. On completing "The Baby Boon", I just had to run out and read the comments on Amazon. It never even dawned on me that people would even be allowed to think such politically incorrect thoughts about the spawners (I mean parents). The book is vague enough, that different groups can take away whatever they want from the book. There is enough whining in the book, that the people who love all the special perks will be able to label it as feminist whining. The childless can find self validation, etc.. The book has many hidden gems. I was especially intrigued with the way that Bill Clinton sold out the traditional support base of the Democratic Party and bought the Baby Boom vote with the promise of special treatment for Baby Booming parents. It is also interesting to see how quick Republican, who had been arguing for lower taxes and fiscal constraint, were willing to sell out when handed bags of special little perks. If you are wondering. I happen to be childless. I was born at the end of the Baby Boom. My particular whine is that Reagan cancelled the scholarship program I needed to finish college. The government slashed spending on college education right after the boomers. I borrowed heavily into my senior year. The loans gave out before my last quarter's tuition. My life is a simple equation of massive student loans and no degree. Consequently, the people I care about the most are students. If the book really wanted to make an impact. It would have mentioned the great burden put on the youth of this nation by all the perks dished out today. Today's students are coming out of College in to a dreadful labor market with record setting college loans and credit card debt. The US is setting record deficits, and there is an expectation that our children will somehow make enough in their lives to pay the generous Social Security benefits that the Baby Boomers will demand while pay back the six trillion dollar deficit that the boomers ran up. Responsible students put off children until they have their finances in order. So the tax breaks work against people hoping to start families. Many students today come out of college with $100,000 plus in credit card debt and loans. The perks hurt the responsible young students who work off their debt. As such, responsible graduates will put off children even longer. The baby boomers tax grants aren't simply a transfer of wealth from the single to the married. It is a massive transfer of wealth and potential from young couple trying to get a toehold in the world to the established middle class. Ultimately, it is a tax that penalizes those who are responsible in planning for a family to those that drop kids without thinking. I think "Baby Boon" is an important read because it shows us how the dialogue in American politics gets turned, spun and twisted until it is impossible to say which way is left or right. The only real conclusion is that mass transfers of wealth by the government has losers as well as winners. (We will always have whiners) Personally, I have no faith in the government's ability to decide which groups should be the winners and losers. The law of unintended consequences usually catch up with all government mandated wealth transfers.
Rating:
Summary: More eloquent and persuasive than I ever could have hoped...
Review: I've made a lot of the arguments in this book in casual conversation dozens of times. There is no right to have children, there is no right to have your personal choices subsidized by the state, government shouldn't favor some citizens over others, companies are being unfair when the give workers with kids more pay for the same work, etc. But never have I seen so many salient objections to the "child-friendly culture" put together with such excellent examples and research. Hopefully, with what I learned from reading this book, I'll actually have a shot at winning some of these arguments in the future. But I won't hold my breath, because as Burkett observes, people are unwilling to admit that they're wrong when they'd have to give up so many priveleges to do so.
Rating:
Summary: Much To Think About
Review: An eye opener, especially for those who are childfree. This is required reading not only for the childfree, but those who are working class. Read the book and you'll see what I mean.
Rating: 
Summary: The "victimization" of America continues.........
Review: In The Baby Boon : How Family-Friendly America Cheats the Childless Elinor Burkett continues what apparently was the major sport of the '90's-portraying oneself as a victim of some sort of social policy or social trend. Here, Burkett-in a writing voice elegantly reminiscent of a whiny 6 year old-argues that the childless are in fact a discriminated against subset of the populace. In point of fact, Burkett does raise some valid points and provide some interesting and compelling arguments for her case. Clearly there are some ways I which those with children benefit from social policy. The problem is that few working parent enjoy anything like the full smorgasbord of "benefits" Burkett is upset about. To hear Burkett tell it, every parent everywhere has it easy/better/whatever than the childless over a huge range of perks/benefits/allowances. Most people, in most jobs and circumstances, might enjoy one or two of these, but not much more. These "benefits" are irregularly deployed and highly regional in nature. Of course, there are ways the childless benefit from others having children. Who is it all these bellyaching whiners think it is that will provide the wage taxes to pay their Social Security payments, for example? It's the children of those who they are griping about. However, not a single word about the benefits these other people provide the childless by having kids ever pops up in this text. Moreover, there is plenty of reason to believe that, insofar as companies do provide these benefits, they do so not to be nice to their "parent" employees but do so to further their own selfish interests-they provide these benefits to attract the quality and quantity of employees they need to further their corporate interests. I'll give this 2 stars as a few valid points are made, but if you are looking for a fair and balanced examination of this topic, you won't get it here.
Rating:
Summary: The truth has been told!
Review: This book is a pure logic masterpiece. Simple straight-forward arguments that cut through the BS of our brat-centric culture. For any childfree person, a must have for their library. However, it runs into problems in the last chapter. A lot of opinions voiced, I strongly don't agree with. (I give it a 95%.) Although it's slightly dated with respect to the childfree movement, GO OUT GET THIS BOOK!
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