Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding, informative, on the edge journalism
Review: This book is well worth the time and money. Mitchell brings the hard truth out about the baby boomers, and enlightens the young masses of the Gen-X'ers that are putting the pieces back together. The book is innovative, thought provoking, and a breath of fresh air. Finally, someone tells the truth.
Rating:
Summary: Politics Will Never be the Same
Review: This book makes the very clear point that politics as we know it today will cease to exist. Today's political structures will crumble, not because Generation X is intently out to "get" the Baby Boomers, the Pre-Retirees, the Roosevelt generation or any other demographic entity, but rather because this generation is simply doing things and doing politics differently than any generation before it. The current two-party system means little to a generation savvy on the internet, focused on local issues, disconnected from either major political party and disinterested in the "causes" of our parents. Michele's book is a refreshing change from the statistic-laden tomes other political writers produce. The book is well-researched, well-written and thought-provoking. You may not agree with everything in the book, but once you read this book it will be clear why every political consultant is trying to get a handle on this generation. If you have an interest in the political future of this country, Mitchell's book is a must-read. If you are expecting a generational political war between Gen Xers and the Baby Boomers, keep waiting -- Gen Xers have other plans.
Rating: 
Summary: A New Kind of Rubbish
Review: This book proves the fact that just because you have a good eye and a good idea, doesn't mean you can translate it into a good book. There has been quite a bit of buzz in DC about this book, but closer inspection of the text shows that rather than a "road map" to the future political landscape, Mitchell provides a sketch on the back of a dirty cocktail napkin. Read the dust cover and skip the book, because there's nothing new inside and the inside flap is much better writing.
Rating:
Summary: Put your finger on the pulse of my politics!
Review: This excellent book is about the political activity of 18-35s in the US, and I think it illustrates some of the differences betweeen the second wave feminist movement, and the third wave of feminism, as well as the differences between 'Old GOP' and new young republicans. To put it more succintly, I think it illustrates the major differences between my "Gen-X" peers and "our parent's generation", in all areas. Which is why I recommend it to third and second wave feminists, to older votors, to activists of any stripe who are wondering about the supposed 'apathetic slackers' of my generation in ANY area of activism. In the US, people my age often exhibit the following characteristics: We lack party affiliation. Feeling no need to spout a party line, whether it's Democratic, Republican, or the line of some national feminist organization, i.e., NOW. We have diverse interests in a wide range of issues, which strongly implies that if you want the 'youth vote', on anything, you simply aren't going to get it. We all have our own pet peeves and projects, and that's part of why we tend to register as independents when we vote, because we're not interested in attaching ourselves to some large ideology. Can the baggage, just solve the problem. As a feminist, I have a deep respect for all the other interests that friends who call themselves 'feminists' might have. We don't have to agree, and with a group this large, we shouldn't agree on everything anyway. We have grassroots-based approaches to problem-solving -- look to the Internet as a case in point. If a website isn't grassroots, what is? As activists, we tend to organize and focus our attentions on the local level instead of the national. And since 'everything important in America happens at the national level'...these efforts are easily overlooked, and my generation gets labeled "apathetic". We demonstrate a lack of gender bias. The overriding question for us is "can this person get the job done" when we're hiring, or voting, or donating money. Our generation is highly skeptic of marketing and advertising. We know a soundbite when we hear one and we don't trust it worth a damn. There's always more to the story than meets the eye. And we're computer savvy, so when we get slapped with smarm and condescension in some political ad, we have no qualms about diving straight into the Congressional Record to find the truth. Read. This. Book.
Rating:
Summary: A key piece in the puzzle of America's future
Review: This is a great book, combining anecdote with statistic to form a coherent prophecy on how the new generations might redirect the disastrous damage done to America's social fabric by my blindly self-indulgent baby boom generation. Those who argue this book is shallow should puzzle over how expertly it predicted 18-29 versus elder voting (in California and Minnesota, to cite two examples) in the 1998 midterm elections. My only criticism is that the author is too kind in the last chapter in denying a "generation war" that she has amply documented in previous pages. I am hoping that what she means is that younger citizens are not responding to the vicious economic and social attack by elders over the last 25 years with similar mean-spirited selfishness, but with a new, inclusive consciousness that Beltway spinmeisters today can't register on their sonograms. Pair this book with Strauss & Howe's "13 Gen" for a sighting of what is to come.
Rating:
Summary: Yadda, Yadda, Yadda
Review: Truly of the nineties -- a Seinfeldian "Book about Nothing." I forced myself to read about half of it before I completely lost interest. I can look up stuff on Nexis anytime -- what we need is someone to put information together cogently, and Ms. Mitchell didn't do it. Maybe she should have stayed at the NYT a bit longer and brushed up on her writing, research and analysis skills. On the bright side, it shows that if you're a shameless self-promoter, you can get people to pay you money for things you slapped together.
Rating:
Summary: Frenetic paced drivel
Review: What a waste of time for this author, since she did so little writing - a few sentences on this, a few sentences on that - where was she going in such a hurry? The pace was a mistake, the material was never fleshed out enough to mean anything. Waste of time for the reader too.
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