false 106330 6 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 shop for $48 titanium spatulas. They tread down specialty cheese aisles in top-of-the-line hiking boots and think nothing of laying down $5 for an olive-wheatgrass muffin. They're the bourgeois bohemians--"Bobos"--an unlikely blend of mainstream culture and 1960s-era counterculture that, according to David Brooks, represents both America's present and future: "These Bobos define our age. They are the new establishment. Their hybrid culture is the atmosphere we all breathe. Their status codes now govern social life." Amusing stereotypes aside, they're an "elite based on brainpower" and merit rather than pedigree or lineage: "Dumb good-looking people with great parents have been displaced by smart, ambitious, educated, and antiestablishment people with scuffed shoes." <p> <I>Bobos in Paradise</I> is a brilliant, breezy, and often hilarious study of the "cultural consequences of the information age." Large and influential (especially in terms of their buying power), the Bobos have reformed society through culture rather than politics, and Brooks clearly outlines this passing of the high-class torch by analyzing nearly all aspects of life: consumption habits, business and lifestyle choices, entertainment, spirituality, politics, and education. Employing a method he calls "comic sociology," Brooks relies on keen observations, wit, and intelligence rather than statistics and hard theory to make his points. And by copping to his own Bobo status, he comes across as revealing rather than spiteful in his dead-on humor. Take his description of a typical grocery store catering to discriminating Bobos: "The visitor to Fresh Fields is confronted with a big sign that says 'Organic Items today: 130.' This is like a barometer of virtue. If you came in on a day when only 60 items were organic, you'd feel cheated. But when the number hits the three figures, you can walk through the aisles with moral confidence."<p> Like any self-respecting Bobo, Brooks wears his erudition lightly and comfortably (not unlike, say, an expedition-weight triple-layer Gore-Tex jacket suitable for a Mount Everest assault but more often seen in the gym). But just because he's funny doesn't mean this is not a serious book. On the contrary, it is one of the more insightful works of social commentary in recent memory. His ideas are sharp, his writing crisp, and he even offers pointed suggestions for putting the considerable Bobo political clout to work. And, unlike the classes that spawned them--the hippies and the yuppies--Brooks insists the Bobos are here to stay: "Today the culture war is over, at least in the realm of the affluent. The centuries-old conflict has been reconciled." All the more reason to pay attention. <I>--Shawn Carkonen</I> 102496 book 2000 Bobos In Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There total:910|5:123|4:327|3:321|2:113|1:26| 910 3138 1343 149 3 4 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Aug 06 15:54:59 -0700 2007 Sat Aug 25 20:29:40 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 6 false false Thu Jul 19 06:05:40 -0700 2007 Thu Jul 19 14:39:38 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 1 false false Mon Sep 29 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 10 16:26:16 -0700 2008 Mon Sep 29 21:51:37 -0700 2008
Put into context, this is a required reading for my Introduction to Sociology course. While I'm glad not to read a textbook full of stodgy statistics and all, this book started to get on my nerves ...more...]]> 5 1 false false Mon Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Mon May 19 06:08:39 -0700 2008 Mon May 19 06:09:36 -0700 2008 My first thought is that Brooks’ des...more...]]> 3 1 false false Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Mar 22 14:50:55 -0700 2008 Mon Apr 21 05:07:41 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Fri Oct 26 06:49:27 -0700 2007 Fri Jul 25 18:46:06 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 1 false false Wed Oct 24 07:50:44 -0700 2007 Wed Oct 24 07:58:52 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2001 Sun Feb 15 20:06:33 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 15 20:19:15 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Sep 08 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 31 14:32:57 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 13 18:11:15 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Feb 22 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 01 09:51:30 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 22 10:36:04 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Dec 30 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Dec 26 09:46:15 -0800 2008 Thu Jan 01 11:13:16 -0800 2009
I had heard about this book for a long time. I respect Mr. Brooks, but I was a little confused with some of his writing. Brooks does a great job of making his case that the bohemian 60s did not defeat the bourgeois 1980s - and vice versa. Instead, they've...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Mar 08 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 05 18:41:06 -0800 2009 Sun Mar 08 18:38:34 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Oct 18 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Nov 05 13:00:07 -0800 2008 Wed Nov 05 17:10:14 -0800 2008 more...]]> 0 0 false false Thu Jul 10 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 16 12:18:37 -0700 2008 Tue Aug 05 09:47:03 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Aug 20 00:00:00 -0700 2001 Fri Jun 13 08:05:05 -0700 2008 Fri Jun 13 08:05:27 -0700 2008
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 1950...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Jul 18 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 23 13:43:49 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 23 13:47:58 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2001 Sun Nov 25 14:29:07 -0800 2007 Sun Nov 25 15:26:33 -0800 2007 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Dec 02 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Nov 05 21:32:02 -0800 2008 Fri Dec 05 10:03:35 -0800 2008 once more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Jan 08 16:01:47 -0800 2008 Sat Jan 12 09:19:35 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jan 14 20:25:27 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 14 20:27:00 -0800 2009
If you live in a place where people protest Starbucks while DRINKING Starbucks coffee, you...more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=106330