Bobos in Paradise the New Upper Class and How They Got There

by David Brooks

Book Overview

Do you believe that spending $15,000 on a media center is vulgar, but that spending $15,000 on a slate shower stall is a sign that you are at one with the Zenlike rhythms of nature? Do you work for... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684853779
• ISBN13: 9780684853772
• Release Date: May 2000
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.04 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.8" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

Excellent read, but not completely convincing.

This book gets 5 stars because it succeeds magnificently in what one ultimately reads any book for -- to delight or entertain oneself. It manages this despite a weak main argument. The author hyperbolizes by imputing the standards and tastes of a small liberal, fashionable, and self-righteous subset of elites to the group of high-achieving Americans as a whole. He did NOT do a good job convincing me that the bobos have really "taken over" the establishment rather than simply compete for attention with those of other sensibilities. What Brooks does provide is ample evidence that business and the media have in the past decade catered extensively to the bobos' interests -- but merely, in my opinion, because they will always chase after where there is money. He also does a good job of comically and accurately describing the bobos and their habits using his acute powers of observation, but this by itself does nothing for his thesis that the bobos now "rule."

Informative and Enjoyable

I have not read as widely as I would have liked and have never taken a sociology class but I am interested in our society and recognize excellent writing when I see it. David Brooks describes the new upper class in America with insight, grace, and intelligence. He supports his thesis with quotes and examples from literature, philosophers, social critics, the New York Times, and the movie The Graduate. He also describes the transformation of Wayne, Pennsylvania, where he attended high school, into a Latte Town as he shares his perceptions of the rich in America and delivers what he promises in the title of his book, especially "how they got there". I found myself smiling and nodding in recognition of things my friends do in San Francisco, Alameda, and Berkeley that are Bobo traits that Brooks describes so accurately, such as taking adventure vacations and eco tours, owning a restaurant size oven, and working for companies that share their values.This is a book worth reading from cover to cover to experience a fantastic, engaging, and delightful word picture of the new upper class.

Bobos in Paradise

If you have ever shopped in Restoration Hardware,long for the "simple life",like texture in your fabrics,this is for you.This book is a hilarious,snide,and deadly accurate look at a social phenomenon.I had been to virtually every location in the book,and ended up laughing at myself as well as the book.This is a fast read,and superbly observed

George Will Was Right Again!

It was George Will's column that led us to order this new book by a Weekly Standard staffer. This book is a quick and easy read with lots of chuckles and a few guffaws. Brooks traces the development of a new "meritocracy" at the top of the American pay heap, that has combined the best values of the bourgeousie and the bohemian cultures of times gone by. Thus, the Bobo has graduated from an ivy league college in the post 1960s era, and enjoys such pleasures as drinking latte and owning a restaurant-type kitchen range. Brooks' sense of humor is gentle, as he himself is a Bobo. If you found The Bell Curve to be full of interesting theory despite its "political incorrectness," you will enjoy this book as well. If you're a "boomer," you'll find lots to enjoy here!