Bobos In Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There

by David Brooks
Bobos In Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There  
published 2001 by Simon & Schuster
binding Paperback
isbn 0684853787   (isbn13: 9780684853789)
pages 288
description You've seen them: They sip double-tall, nonfat lattes, chat on cell phones, and listen to NPR while driving their immaculate SUVs to Pottery Barn to s...more
date added
02-15-07



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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 746)



leighcia
leighcia rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
08/25/07

bookshelves: non-fiction
Read in August, 2007
Though it’s not necessary to read the whole book, the introduction and opening chapters provide a good characterization of my generation and my social class. Brooks describes today’s new upper class—the Bobos—Bourgeois Bohemians. While earlier in the 20th century and before, the bourgeois and bohemians existed in separate social and economic circles (the bourgeois dominating with “old money” and all the financial resources, the bohemian artists gathering in their coffeeshops and run-...more
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Eric
Eric rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
06/13/08

bookshelves: non-fiction, politics
Read in August, 2001
Okay, so what's a Bobo?

According to author David Brooks, a senior editor at The Weekly Standard, a Bobo is a bourgeois bohemian.

What's a bourgeois bohemian?

That's not quite as simple. According to Brooks, the bourgeois ethos was predominant in America in the 1950s through the early 1960s. The bourgeois, made up the upper class, consisted of old money and well-connected offspring. The bourgeois believed that birth and heritage determined success. Membership in certain clubs was value...more
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Justine
Justine rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
04/21/08

Read in April, 2008
Brooks' work of "comic sociology" is essentially a grown-up, much better researched version of my favorite blog "Stuff White People Like." Unlike the blog, it uses a loose historical basis that is semi-rigorously researched and has a general theory that it espouses. Like the blog, it is hilarious.

Brooks himself is a bobo (read, bourgeois bohemian, or the new class of privilege that got here by working hard and being smart rather than being entitled (such as the old WASP...more
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Liz
Liz rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
05/19/08

Read in August, 2005
I don’t think it’s possible for me to write down everything I think about this book into one review. I think the review would end up being as long as the book. I will try to hit the main points of my impressions without going on for too long though.
My first thought is that Brooks’ description of bobo (bohemian and bourgeoisie) culture and behavior is highly entertaining and right on target. I’ve known many people like this (and would myself be classified as a bobo) and can see them...more
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Jason
Jason rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
07/19/07

David Brooks is, for lack of a better term, David Brooks. He has two schticks. First is conservative politics presented in a manner palatable to the readership of The New York Times and the viewers of the PBS News Hour. Second is pop anthropological commentary on perceived cultural phenomena. Bobos in Paradise falls into the latter category. "Bobo", a long common term in French of identical meaning, is hipspeak for bourgeois bohemian -- liberals with $$$ and status. The problem, howeve...more
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carolyn rhea
bookshelves: pop-culture
Read in January, 2001
Pop social theory on how the mass affluent, with its commodity fetishism, and Veblen effectivism, drove late 20th century American economy. However, while Brooks covers a lot of territory, and some leaps are suspicious and superficial (not to mention lacking in a good examination of this same effect upon immigration and race/ethnic issues), most serve as a valid reflection of what the remaining halcyon daze before 2000 were like for the bohemian bourgeoisie, aka bobos. Ahtough for me, he runs ou...more
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Cate
Cate rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
01/12/08

Read in January, 2008
recommends it for: anyone interested in society.
Brooks makes a great case for his thesis that two historically opposed groups--the bourgeois and the bohemians--have reconcilled their differences and merged into one group--the Bobos. He illustrates this through examples that can be seen in any Bobo town (e.g., Wayne, PA, Burlington, VT), Bobo business life (enlightened capitalism), Bobo intellectual life (outcasts have become entrepreneurs), Bobo pleasure (once deviant sexual acts now have their own set of rules; travel has become a quest of ...more
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Taylor
Taylor rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
10/24/07

recommends it for: Bobo's
The thesis of this book is that the clashing cultures of the 1960's Bourgoise and the Bohemian and have melded into the BOBO. CEO's now quote Jack Kerouac and listen to Grateful Dead. The chapter that everyone I know should read is about Sprituality. The author who is Jewish lays down with precise detail what is going on in most of the middle/upper class America. Life is a journey and no one really has a claim on truth and rather than being satisfied it leaves the person longing for someth...more
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catherine
catherine rated it: 2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars
04/05/07

Read in March, 2007
recommends it for: yuppies running scared
for those of you that dont know, bobo's are the new culture makers and benefactors. it is the new top class of our meritocracy, a class that supposedly synthesizes the bohemian aesthetic and ideal with non-offensive bourgeois sensibility, protestant work ethic, and free-market cunning. its full of interesting observations on social trends, and i think there is something to this analysis, but its not earth shattering. if anything, i think this phenomenon is what has pushed the former "bohe...more
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Trena
Trena rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
06/24/08

Read in August, 2006
recommends it for: embarrassed yuppies
In high school I read a book called "Class" by Paul Fussell. The book was old even then (published 1983) but was just fantastic and as timeless as such a book can be. I've been looking for a new version of it ever since. Bobos in Paradise was extremely amusing and a little cringe-inducing when you recognize yourself in it, but it is not aging well. It's been two years since I read it so the resonance of its Clinton-era musings may have been completely dampened by now. I suppose ou...more
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Josh
Josh rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
08/18/07

Read in March, 2007
This book is 8 years old, but accurately catches this new class of Americans that's somewhat the green Green Hills Mall shopper. To critize this group too harshly would be hypocritical because I fit the description in many ways. The BoBo (Bohemian Bourgeois) loves the environment, despises "the man", praises authenticity, seeks balance in life, makes a lot of money and spends it on himself. Spending $500,000 on a brick mansion in the suburbs would be obscene to the BoBo, but spendin...more
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emmy
emmy rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
05/03/07

bookshelves: nonfiction
Has a copy to sell/swap
david brooks is a pretty conservative guy, but what makes him so unique is that he's the child of new york liberals, and was super left wing until his early-to-mid 20s. now he's a conservative pundit who actually DOES understand liberals. unique.

this book is about the bohemian/bourgeois of this country(those people who think they're counter-culture because they shop at urban outfitters).

the thing i love about this book is that i am completely in agreement with brooks on his premise, ...more
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Lindsey
Lindsey rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
05/21/07

This was a required read for a history class I took in college. I found it to be an enjoyable, witty examination of the clash between the ideals of BOhemians and the BOurgeois (hence the term BO BO). Brooks looks at the unlikely blend of corporate capitalism with free-spirited hippihood.

Basically if you live in a college town or metropolitan area or suburb, you've come into contact with bobos. Heck, you may even be a bobo (you might be a bobo if...).

It may be pop sociology, but it's an...more
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Sujata
Sujata rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
10/22/07

Read in October, 2002
recommends it for: reconcilers
Sigh.... I've had a long and somewhat tumultuous relationship with this book. Though I don't particularly respect Brooks' NY Times columns, I admit that I (almost painfully) identify with this book. Bobos are reconcilers. They (we) are the educated class that attempts to reconcile their bohemian values with their bougeouis lives. Ultimately, Brooks hopes to embrace Bobo culture and puts out a call to increased civic engagement amongst bobos. It's funny. It often provides clarity. And it mi...more
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Andrea
Andrea rated it: 1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars
02/14/08

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in February, 2008
recommends it for: yuppies who need to justify their own lifestyle
to be honest, i didn't even finish it. i couldn't. i'm usually an open-minded reader who can push through books in which i start to lose interest, but i had a very difficult time tolerating the author's point of view. i was expecting a more objective report on the topic, what i got was the author's smugly-written justification for his class' behavior, something with which i personally do not sympathize.

if any SF yuppies out there need a copy, you are more than welcome to have mine for fre...more
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Cindy
Cindy added it
03/12/07

Read in August, 2005
recommends it for: anyone interested in social commentary
The premise of this book by David Brooks is that those of us who came of age in the 1960s combine a set of socially responsible and liberal beliefs (bohemian) with a sensibility of wanting to make money and have the good life (bourgeois)--hence the name bo-bo. His descriptions of bobo towns like Great Barrington, MA and Burlington, VT are hilarious. Good book; however, although I couldn't have phrased or described it as well, I could have identified myself as one of these bobos.
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Hilda
Hilda rated it: 2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars
01/27/08

recommended to Hilda by: Maria Bixby
The book was OK. It was easy to read and follow the ideas presented.

It got a bit dull at times, particularly the business life chapter on which I gave up. I most enjoyed the chapters on Intellectual Life and Political Life.

Although in 2000 when the book was written it was spot on regarding current events and the trends it looked like the country was taking, 9/11/2001 changed everything and in many ways rendered the book obsolete.
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Bronwen
Bronwen rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
01/03/08

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in December, 2007

Brooks does a lot of entertaining, well-captured, truth-telling in his look at our current culture. It is more of a "look" than a "critique" since he gives little criticism. I enjoyed the book and would recommend it, though I found it a bit poky at parts and thought he could have been equally effective without quoting so many earlier works. That said, I appreciated the historical perspective and background.
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Allen
06/06/08

Read in June, 2008
I have been meaning to read this book for some time, mainly because I lived in Missoula for a year and there is a section in this book about Missoula. I found that to be one of the more interesting sections of the book as was the chapter on "Spiritual Life." This book contains a number of unique observations but I would recommend skimming some sections of the book which do move a bit slowly.
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Jenjira
Jenjira rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
07/12/08

This was some of the best pop sociology I've read in a while. My only critique is that Brooks was too heavy-handed on the more "bohemian" bobos and less so on the "bourgeois" bobos. This was not a surprise, given the author's political leanings. Still, I thought he could have been less partial, especially when it came to a discussion of Bobo spirituality.
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book data (includes all editions)

avg rating (all editions): 3.52 (538 ratings)
avg rating (this edition): 3.52 (514 ratings)
number of reviews: 80






other editions

Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There (Hardcover)
Die Bobos. Der Lebensstil der neuen Elite. (Paperback)