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A Generation of Sociopaths: How the Baby Boomers Betrayed America

by Bruce Cannon Gibney

3.72 · Rating details · 339 Ratings · 81 Reviews

In his "remarkable" (Men's Journal) and "controversial" (Fortune) book -- written in a "wry, amusing style" (The Guardian) -- Bruce Cannon Gibney shows how America was hijacked by the Boomers, a generation whose reckless self-indulgence degraded the foundations of American prosperity. In A Generation of Sociopaths, Gibney examines the disastrous policies of the most powerf ...more

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Hardcover, 464 pages

Published March 7th 2017 by Hachette Books

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Mar 05, 2017 Sam Scott rated it it was amazing

This was a fun, fascinating - and somewhat depressing - read, offset by the author's witty humor and thorough research. With such a bold title, I was curious how Gibney would make the case. As he sees it, it's not that every Boomer is a sociopath, but rather that as a generation, the Boomers have overseen a series of personal and policy choices that have systematically benefited themselves at the expense of the younger generations in a sociopathic manner. After finishing it, I'm convinced that t This was a fun, fascinating - and somewhat depressing - read, offset by the author's witty humor and thorough research. With such a bold title, I was curious how Gibney would make the case. As he sees it, it's not that every Boomer is a sociopath, but rather that as a generation, the Boomers have overseen a series of personal and policy choices that have systematically benefited themselves at the expense of the younger generations in a sociopathic manner. After finishing it, I'm convinced that the Boomer generation took things off the top and are responsible for much of our country's tepid grow and ballooning debt.

The first third of the book is a brief history of the a Boomers from birth to Vietnam, and Gibney lays out the case that the America the boomers inherited, while still deeply flawed (conditions of blacks and women, anyone?), was essentially great and getting better. By 1965, when the first boomers were graduating from college, the country had widespread prosperity, voting and civil rights, and a bright future ahead of it. Then what? Gibney argues, the boomers.

I was less persuaded by some of his data on the personal characteristics of the boomers, but the policy data is just stunning, and the case Gibney makes is hard to refute: from the late 1970s forward, most major fiscal policy choices benefited the boomers at the expense of others. California's Prop 13 (and similar property tax caps in other states) have permitted long-time property owners (e.g. Boomers) to avoid hundreds of thousands of dollars in property taxes, and those rates must rise overall and be collected from newer (e.g. younger) homebuyers to make up the difference. That's right, the boomers living across the street from you may be paying 1/4 the property taxes you are for the exact same house. And Gibney nails it: it's an inter-generational transfer from the young to the old.

Much of the rest of the book is a topic-by-topic breakdown of how the boomers have reaped inter-generational transfers at every turn, in education, environment, science and research, pensions, and perhaps most critically, Social Security and Medicare. The former, Gibney explains, is actually as a legal matter a form of insurance and NOT an entitlement - it was intended to be for the truly destitute, not to help pay for a winter home in Boca Raton. And as Gibney explains, little wonder our
boomer politicians have had no interest in reforming it - the well won't go dry until the mid 2030s when most boomers will be dead. As for Medicare, Gibney notes that the average Medicare beneficiary's annual costs were close to $12,500 in 2015 and will rise roughly $1k per year. And of course, because the boomers had the lowest savings rate of any generation, many will be heavily dependent on these programs and steadfastly refuse reform. Was it a mere coincidence that about the only policy issue Clinton and Trump (both boomers) agreed on during the election was no reform of these programs?

Gibney's case is strong in other policy areas as well. While public university tuition was essentially free for the boomers, it now averages around $13,500 for today's students, and student loans (for the young) have made up the difference at a rate that is now double our country's credit card debt. And whereas the boomers came of age at a time of high inflation that made whatever few loans they had easy to repay, our era of essentially flat growth means younger borrowers get no assistance in paying down their huge loan burdens. What have all these loans paid for? Unsustainable guaranteed pensions for tenured boomer professors, leaving budgets so tight that the next generation of scholars remain adjuncts making near minimum wage and without any pension whatsoever. Gee, thanks.

Gibney makes a similarly persuasive arguments about science research, infrastructure investment, and stewardship of the environment. In sum, despite what the polemic title might suggest, this book is data-heavy, vast, and very well researched (with roughly 50 pages of endnotes). And it's the statistics that make Gibney's argument so enlightening. I had no idea that Boomers made up 79% of the House of Representatives in 2008 as the financial crisis unfolded, that Al Gore got his early wealth from a land deal selling oil extraction rights to Armand Hammer, and that consevative Reagan raised taxes on capital gains (before boomers had stock portfolios), liberal Clinton cut top tax rates (once boomers were high earners), and supposedly small-government Bush II passed Medicare Part D, the prescription drug benefits that largely benefit boomers and was the single largest expansion in Medicare. It seems that our country makes bi-partisan concessions only when it benefits the Boomers. The book is chock full of these anecdotes and statistics and regardless of whether you ultimately agree with Gibney's argument about the boomers being sociopaths, it's a terrific read for this reason alone.

So are the Boomers sociopaths, like Gibney says? I'm not sure I'm convinced they are, but I'm wholly convinced that the Boomer generation mortgaged our country's future for their present consumption, and Gibney lays out a persuasive case that the Boomer generation should be held responsible for the mess it created. For anyone under the age of 50, this should be essential reading, although it's likely to leave you pretty bitter!

Overall, a fun, informative, and thoroughly researched read. ...more

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Dec 01, 2016 Ginny rated it liked it

I read an ARC provided by Hachette Books that was written before Trump had won the Republican primaries so there may be edits made by Gibney in response to the election.

I'll clarify my biases at the outset by saying I'm a Canadian Millennial (born in 1988) raised by Silent/Lost generation parents (born during WWII) so I wasn't raised by Baby Boomers.

This is not the first time I've seen Baby Boomers called sociopaths and I think it's an understandable response to the labels put on Millennials who I read an ARC provided by Hachette Books that was written before Trump had won the Republican primaries so there may be edits made by Gibney in response to the election.

I'll clarify my biases at the outset by saying I'm a Canadian Millennial (born in 1988) raised by Silent/Lost generation parents (born during WWII) so I wasn't raised by Baby Boomers.

This is not the first time I've seen Baby Boomers called sociopaths and I think it's an understandable response to the labels put on Millennials who are frustrated with a system that they feel unable to cope with or change. I can only imagine Baby Boomers who feel they don't fit in with the stereotypical Baby Boomers will be able to read this without taking such personal offense as to be unable to assess the arguments made in the book. I'm not sure who the book is for, if most people who would be swayed by the arguments have already been swayed by them.

I don't have a strong background in economics so while Gibney's economic arguments do not seem terribly flawed to me, I do think there are issues with the social statements. 'Sociopath' as a clinical definition is much more complicated and controversial than presented in the book. The anti-establishment behaviour that hallmarked the 60s is not necessarily an indication of anti-social, narcissistic behaviour on the part of Baby Boomers. The behaviour is pretty normal for most generations, but there were more Baby Boomers acting that way and the aftershocks of WWII allowed for more anti-war sentiment. The behaviour of youths in the 1920s is very similar (anti-war, more drug usage, more sex) but we aren't calling the Greatest generation sociopaths for it.

The behaviour examined in the book is not just the behaviour of Baby Boomer home owners and voters, but specifically the Baby Boomers in positions of power and influence - which means white and male. Change a few parameters and you could change the book title to 'A Generation of Sociopaths: How White Male Baby Boomers Betrayed America' which would probably be too extreme to push through a major publishing house but would be a social as well as economic argument, and much more interesting. ...more

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Jul 10, 2017 Ian Scuffling rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-in-2017, 21st-century, print-aint-dead, reality-bites

3.667 stars. Repeating, of course.

I first heard about this book from a friend who heard an interview with Bruce Cannon Gibney on NPR. I listened to the interview, which featured talk about how the Boomers were sociopathic due to their high exposure to television, lead (paint, fuel, et. al.), hedonism (drug culture, sex culture), and often just rode on the coattails of their parents' generation for all their claims about civil rights, etc. Compelling arguments. The thing is, this book is really m 3.667 stars. Repeating, of course.

I first heard about this book from a friend who heard an interview with Bruce Cannon Gibney on NPR. I listened to the interview, which featured talk about how the Boomers were sociopathic due to their high exposure to television, lead (paint, fuel, et. al.), hedonism (drug culture, sex culture), and often just rode on the coattails of their parents' generation for all their claims about civil rights, etc. Compelling arguments. The thing is, this book is really more of a primer on the state of economics. In other words, not exactly what I was anticipating. However, as a primer, it's pretty successful at laying down the foundation of our present crises in a convincing argument, with the back drop of sociopathic behavior being the driving force in all of the choices of those in power. As a rich hedge-fund manager, Gibney, is surprisingly agnostic in his approach to civic financial reform. He's pro-tax--though, those taxes extend onto everyone in his "prescriptions," though he makes great efforts to ensure Boomers bear the brunt of the blow. He's pro-government in infrastructure, science, and R&D spending. He's also excitedly pro-education reform in a way that abandons the kind of dumb approximation that EVERYONE SHOULD GO TO COLLEGE NO MATTER WHAT--investment in schools is necessary in Gibney's world, but the emphasis on a liberal education shouldn't be so aggressive, and should embrace trade skills, etc. In other words, he makes convincing moves in his financial suggestions, as well as his diagnosis of Boomer sociopathy.

But here's the rub: his whole argument is (as he even defines it) to Other the Boomers in order to rally the pro-social younger generations living the wake of extremely failed Boomer policies. The problem is easy to see: it makes the assumption that everyone but Boomers act pro-socially, with sacrifice and civic duty. There are some mild signs in some of the data he presents regarding saving behavior of more recent generations, egalitarian moods of the youth, etc. But this glosses over a stark reality of the ever-presence of conspicuous consumption, rampant narcissism, and obsession with fame/money that afflicts Gen X-ers and Millenials. In other words, I think he's a bit too optimistic of the prosocial appearance of our contemporary culture, but it's underlied by a vain and shallow vapidity that seeps with anti-intellectualism, and a rejection of the power of free speech. Even further, he sweeps under the rug that the parents of the Boomers were extremely repressive, and ultimately failures at mitigating the changing society to raise pro-social children. He's okay to ignore so many of the faults of the "Greatest Gen" for the mere fact that they built a great infrastructure and handled the economy well. A bit unconvincing. But, ultimately, I think this is because they're mostly dead and the Boomers are old enough now to know better.

Further, sometimes it's hard to align with Gibney when he's hardset at presenting himself as neither left or right--he creates false equivalencies, acting at times as an apologist for the right while magnifying dubious actions from the left to suggest they're both as bad as one another. He has a particular bone to pick with Bernie who seems to have been a complete failure for Gibney for the simple fact that the rhetoric of "break up the banks" wasn't backed by totally rigid, set policies (ie. he thought Bernie to be a bloviator because he didn't have legislation in hand to break up the banks...). He also tries to paint Nixon and Reagan as these almost leftist-ideals. To be fair, they both were not the level of shit the GOP represents now. And it's hard to pigeon Nixon as "pro-social" in total. But perhaps it's a strength of Gibney's premise that Nixon comes out looking pro-social in contrast to the politicians we're left with today.

Beyond those quibbles, the book does have value--it presents a lot of data in interesting ways that made me question a lot of my understandings, especially about tax policy and how revenue is generated/distributed. Squarely, to afford the luxuries of today, taxes need to go up on everyone. Even if Gibney refuses to believe it, I think Bernie presented the closest image to what Gibney "prescribes" to fix our crumbling infrastructure, schools, employment, wages, etc. A worthwhile book, just be ready to suspend your ability to buy wholly into the idea that EVERYTHING is the Boomers' fault. It just mostly is. I'll be thinking about this one for a long ass time if not until 2030/40 when the Boomers finally cede power to us. ...more

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Mar 08, 2017 Jim Robles rated it it was amazing

I am not actually going to read this one, because I feel like I could have written it. If you have any doubts about the validity about my perpetual rant against Baby Boomers, this might make interesting reading.

Instead of a review, I am adding my current message to our Democratic Party Leadership.

I was appalled by

"POLITICS - CONGRESSIONAL MEMO - For Democrats, Being Out of Power Has Its Perks,” By EMMARIE HUETTEMANFEB. 12, 2017, The New York Times.

What if anything does the House Leadership care I am not actually going to read this one, because I feel like I could have written it. If you have any doubts about the validity about my perpetual rant against Baby Boomers, this might make interesting reading.

Instead of a review, I am adding my current message to our Democratic Party Leadership.

I was appalled by

"POLITICS - CONGRESSIONAL MEMO - For Democrats, Being Out of Power Has Its Perks,” By EMMARIE HUETTEMANFEB. 12, 2017, The New York Times.

What if anything does the House Leadership care about? Certainly not being in power to effect policy beneficial to those we purport to represent. How can we feel good about ourselves after the 2016 election? We seem to be in complete denial of our culpability in the election of the arrantly rebarbative Trump. How can Speaker Pelosi claim she “knows how to do this” after the shellacking we have taken over the past eight years?

Our government is not “broken”: it has been working as it was designed to. We are not divided: we have a consensus. The (Baby Boomer) consensus is that we are going to have great benefits (Social Security and Medicare) for Baby Boomers and the elderly (the age cohorts with the LOWEST rates of poverty) protected by the Left, we are going to have a strong defense (bipartisan consensus), and we are not going to pay for it (tax increases blocked by the Right). The concomitant squeeze on discretionary spending has militated against any succoring (infrastructure, research, education, training, etc.) of those left behind by (mostly) technology and (somewhat) globalization.

We have done nothing significant to address poverty and income inequality. Shame on us! Does Speaker Pelosi really think that protecting my Social Security and Medicare benefits is going to win back a 45-year-old laid off manufacturing worker?

The problem is not how we “message” or communicate with voters. The problem is our arrant failure to listen to those who need help. We ignored them. Trump spoke, however falsely and maliciously, to them.

It would be “progressive” to “make the deal” and trade cuts in the rate of growth of Social Security and Medicare for tax increases, and free up some discretionary spending.

We have lost badly over the last eight years and I see no sign that our senescent leadership has learned anything. We laughed at the Republicans for having seventeen Presidential candidates: we should be weeping with envy. I like Ms. Clinton and “banged the lever down hard” when I voted. Still she was a weak candidate and we had no practicable alternatives.

It is just one more sign of our selfish corruption that our senescent leadership is refusing to step aside and make room for the next generation.

I will not be contributing (much) until I see some sign that the Democratic Party has come to terms with its culpability in the election of the arrantly rebarbative Trump.

I will be standing with Planned Parenthood. I will be looking for opportunities in the nonprofit sector. Promulgation of LARC (long acting reversible contraception is the number one thing we should be promoting. Sell it to conservatives as the best way to reduce social spending longterm. (You are still talking to Isabel Sawhill?) ...more

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May 07, 2017 Todd N rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: america-in-decline

Man oh man this is a long and dense book. But I kept reminding myself that hating on Baby Boomers is a marathon not a sprint.

In this book we learn that the primary division in politics since about Proposition 13 hasn't been Left vs. Right -- it has been Baby Boomer vs. all other generations and Baby Boomer vs. decency and Baby Boomer vs. the good of America and Baby Boomer vs. Earth.

I'm cool with that. I think Baby Boomers suck because there are at least three classic rock FM stations in any maj Man oh man this is a long and dense book. But I kept reminding myself that hating on Baby Boomers is a marathon not a sprint.

In this book we learn that the primary division in politics since about Proposition 13 hasn't been Left vs. Right -- it has been Baby Boomer vs. all other generations and Baby Boomer vs. decency and Baby Boomer vs. the good of America and Baby Boomer vs. Earth.

I'm cool with that. I think Baby Boomers suck because there are at least three classic rock FM stations in any major market. But it turns out they are responsible for everything bad that has happened since the voting age was lowered to 18.

Mr. Gibney (by the way, who was Peter Thiel's roommate, and who therefore must have a few interesting tales to tell) gives his anti Baby Boomer arguments a bit more thought than I do. He even uses some small portion of his VC gains to buy as much of America's government-generated data as he could, pop it into Excel, and make a bunch of charts accompanied by plain English explanations.

I admire his commitment to his thesis, even starting chapters with quotes from the DSM V, which may offend the more delicate reader. But then again if you can get past the early chapter that cheerfully attacks the popular views of the Vietnam War -- that grain of sand responsible for each beautiful pearl of a grizzled hippie -- the rest of the book should be smooth, if tiring, sailing.

Speaking of commitment to his thesis, I read an interview with the author in The Huffington Post and I found myself slightly disappointed in Mr. Gibney. First of all, he passed up a wonderful opportunity to comment on HuffPo, probably the most perfect embodiment of sociopathic Baby Boomer business practices on the Internet. Second of all, when pushed on whether all Baby Boomers are sociopaths he hedged and said something like it's the white, upper middle class ones. I believed in you, man.

I get it though. You want to live in the Bay Area and you can't have people egging your Tesla.

Even if the arguments overreach a bit, there is a ton of very good information in this book. And it provides a useful lens for looking at issues.

For example, recently there was a viral article about how some real estate investor said that millennials can't buy houses because they are buying avocado toast and lattes. Having just read this book I can list a bunch of policies that maybe have more of an effect on why a younger generation can't buy houses than what fruit they have for breakfast. To wit: Prop 13, mortgage interest deduction, reduction of estate taxes, a very generous tax basis when inheriting a house, property exchange transactions with tax benefits, higher tuition and student debt, inability to discharge student debt in bankruptcy, NIMBYism that reduces creation of new housing, lack of investment in infrastructure that makes commuting difficult, a regressive gas tax that also makes commuting difficult. The book makes a compelling case that the timing of many of these policies are timed specifically to benefit Baby Boomers at the expense of younger generations.

Highly recommended, especially if you ever wondered why the generation that made such a big deal out of celebrating the dawning of the Age Of Aquarius is so intent on calling Millennials spoiled brats. ...more

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Mar 11, 2017 Marina Mangiararina rated it it was ok

The first ~120 pages of this book were fairly enlightening, as Gibney attempts to explain the social reasons for Baby Boomer's self-absorbedness. The arguments given are compelling, and statistically backed.

But when Gibney dips into politics, it's all stuff I've heard before. And I'm finding myself hard pressed to blame baby boomers for the demise of the United States. Might we forget that generations preceding the boomers were extremely repressive towards women, minorities, or those that were L ...more

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Mar 12, 2017 M rated it it was amazing

Such a great book. I've always wondered what exactly happened to the baby boomers in my life. For awhile I thought maybe it was the time they spent under school desks during the Cuban Missile Crisis that fried their brain. Obviously life is more complex than just one moment in history.

George Carlin nailed it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBOW7...

My Grandparents were into books and science. My parents (baby boomers) not at all. Same with my husband's parents and a good amount of my friend's p ...more

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Apr 05, 2017 Kyle Nicholas rated it really liked it

Shelves: sociology, politics

This is the book I would have written. I've been discoursing about the Boomers and their drive to ruin all things - and then blame the young - for years now. The only things I would have omitted, or at least trumpeted the FACTS as opposed to the liberal rhetoric bandied about like an expensive joint, are these:

1. Aggressive policing works. Stop-and-frisk nabs criminals off the streets and is a huge success. This has been proven by research (that the author chooses to ignore because it blights hi This is the book I would have written. I've been discoursing about the Boomers and their drive to ruin all things - and then blame the young - for years now. The only things I would have omitted, or at least trumpeted the FACTS as opposed to the liberal rhetoric bandied about like an expensive joint, are these:

1. Aggressive policing works. Stop-and-frisk nabs criminals off the streets and is a huge success. This has been proven by research (that the author chooses to ignore because it blights his liberal bent.) Broken windows policies work. Too bad facts are things lefties hate since they love crime so much... especially crime committed by people of color.

2. The wage gap has been debunked. But this author crows to the mighty heavens the $0.78-to-a-man's-$1.00 myth as if it were gospel. Omit this falsehood or explain the facts: Women make personal choices which affect their pay grade, such as educational majors and having children; women choose jobs that are safer, yet pay less than dangerous jobs overwhelmingly chosen by men; women take more vacations, are absent from work more frequently, and are shooting themselves in the foot by engaging in entitled activities such as "me-ternity" to get time off from work. I shouldn't HAVE to review or remark on these facts, but since everyone apparently still believes this farce, I must.

3. Feminism was, and is, a Boomer phenomenon of utter entitlement. The author completely ignores this in favor of bashing white men every chance he gets. (Another aspect of liberal stupidity is, of course, self-hatred.) Racism is, by any other name, still racism. Though a review of the pure facts does point to the truth that many white men did have some advantages, feminists use these as cudgels to bludgeon white men of any generation into submission. If anything, one could argue that "male privilege" is actually a manifestation of gynocentrism: the reason why men went to work, absented themselves from the home, the care and feeding of their children, and the loving caretaking of their wives was to work hard and provide the finances to support that very same family. Feminism has done its best to dismantle this fact and reframe it as "oppression," and this has been thoroughly discussed elsewhere. The author does us all a disservice in failing to point out that second- and third-wave feminism came about as a result of Boomer entitlement and sociopathy. He missed a great opportunity... likely because he was too afraid to step on too many toes already mashed by his assertions. Quite cowardly.

Otherwise, I heartily recommend this book to everyone, Gen X like myself and younger, so as to get perspective on why things are so "fucked up" today. Sure, blame us, a little. But we're not the ones who have squandered the future. We get the blame after Boomers have dumped on us... but it's obvious that today's policies came about and were carved in stone long before I was born in 1975. We are the lost generation. Now we're here to clean up this frat party. It's going to be a long, tough job... ...more

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Apr 04, 2017 Chance Lee rated it it was amazing

Shelves: true-story

Beyond the sensational title, Gibney lays out convincing evidence that the fault for America's stagnant growth, poor education, and expanding debt and waistlines lies at the feet of the Worst Generation: The Boomers. Born into a world of great opportunity, they kept it all for themselves. Their parents paid all the bills and, once The Greatest Generation died off, Boomer children now foot the bill.

As they took power in government, their selfishness meant that government policies were made and a Beyond the sensational title, Gibney lays out convincing evidence that the fault for America's stagnant growth, poor education, and expanding debt and waistlines lies at the feet of the Worst Generation: The Boomers. Born into a world of great opportunity, they kept it all for themselves. Their parents paid all the bills and, once The Greatest Generation died off, Boomer children now foot the bill.

As they took power in government, their selfishness meant that government policies were made and adjusted to ensure their own (social) security at the expense of anyone else -- especially those who will be stuck on this planet they fucked-up after they finally have the decency to die. Taxes have not been reduced overall as much as re-allocated to non-Boomers. They value "feelings" over logic while fast to hypocritically discount anyone who "feels" differently than they do. Hypocrisy reigns supreme for the Boomer, like those with boners for our Founding Fathers who ignore the fact that Thomas Jefferson wrote that it is "incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes." The bloated debt-filled corpse of the Boomer will rot and stink up this country for years to come.

This book is an exercise in frustration. Page after page of well-researched documented evidence on how the Boomers have fucked up everything from infrastructure to the tax code to the education system. Boomers, as a whole, eschew anything that interferes with their immediate gratification. They're lazy, stupid (the number who believe that the earth revolves around the sun is startling), irresponsible (one of the highest STD rates of any generation), hypocritical, and selfish. The uber-Boomer, Donald Trump, is now in charge, which does not bode well in case you haven't figured that out yet.

Gibney makes clear that the vices and virtues of a generation do not apply to everyone in it. But I've already seen a few #notallboomers! reviews here on Goodreads. By making this comment, these people are spouting their opinion -- their FEELINGS -- on something they either a) did not read or b) did not pay attention to, which in fact puts them in the same sociopathic strata as their peers.

In the end, Gibney provides "solutions" which pretty much boil down to this: never vote for a Boomer again. Remove them from power. Reduce social security and tax breaks that almost specifically benefit this generation, forcing them to repay the debts they've accumulated for their entire lives. But, like most things these days, it feels hopeless.

The book is readable but filled with cold, hard facts. Many of the numbers, budgeting, and financial statistics made my eyes glaze over. "Raised" by Boomers, I don't know how to manage money either.

Regarding the "sociopath" label, I think that's an inflammatory term used to get the book some attention. I'm not sure how accurate it is, and with my general disdain for the science of psychology (how much of the current qualifications for "sociopath" were formulated by Boomer psychologists?) I don't care. They're definitely short-sighted, antisocial, and self-destructive, which is more than enough condemnation for me.

Frankly, I have a bit of confirmation bias with this one. As you might infer from the sarcastic quotes around "raised," my parents were, um, less than stellar, and I could check off almost every sociological trait outlined by the DSM-V with either of them. When watching Trump "debate" my most common comment was, "It's like having a conversation with my mother."

Because of my personal history, I found myself more interested in the causes than the effects. What made the Boomers this way? Gibney dissects this in an early chapter, boiling it down to television. He writes, "TV's essential characteristics make it the perfect education for sociopaths, facilitating deceit, acquisitiveness, intransigence, and validating a worldview only loosely tethered to reality." It's a strong point, although Gibney isn't bold enough to draw the line from TV to capitalism, the world's truest evil, perhaps because the American dollar has treated him so well. As a rich Silicon Valley libertarian, Gibney is part of the group who will likely replace the Boomers as the next generation to totally fuck us all up. ...more

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Mar 20, 2017 Biblio Files (takingadayoff) rated it liked it

The loathing that Bruce Gibney feels toward baby boomers is a little frightening. And that's probably the most important thing about A Generation of Sociopaths. It's a long book and Gibney lays out his arguments about how Boomers are to blame for everything that is wrong with America. He has some points, to be sure, but it's a bit overdone, and there's no attempt to find any redeeming qualities of an entire generation. Surely we get a little credit for LGBTQ rights and classic rock. In any case, ...more

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Feb 05, 2017 Steven rated it it was amazing

This was a refreshing, novel, and robustly researched book. Let's acknowledge the elephant in the room - the title is a tad too provocative, and even the author doesn't seem to think all that many boomers are literally sociopaths. Think of it as a way to frame a generation's choices, actions and behaviors. And in that sense, the book cuts through the exhausted (and exhausting) left/right ideological tropes like a knife through butter. Instead, Gibney contends that the real problem with American This was a refreshing, novel, and robustly researched book. Let's acknowledge the elephant in the room - the title is a tad too provocative, and even the author doesn't seem to think all that many boomers are literally sociopaths. Think of it as a way to frame a generation's choices, actions and behaviors. And in that sense, the book cuts through the exhausted (and exhausting) left/right ideological tropes like a knife through butter. Instead, Gibney contends that the real problem with American policymaking over the past thirty years has been choices made by a generation in charge that only cares about itself, and so has pursued policies of borrowing, consumption, instant gratification, and abject disregard for the future.

I write this as President Trump has proposed a budget with huge cuts to NIH medical and scientific research, education, and efforts to fight climate change, and no changes whatsoever to entitlements for people over 65 (i.e. Boomers). The Boomers, of course, were the only age group to vote for Trump over Clinton, and so it's not at all surprising that he would reward their loyalty with no cuts to Social Security and Medicare but huge cuts to basically everything anyone under the age of thirty should care about (research and development, education, climate change). (btw- in one chapter, Gibney cites to a number of studies that show that Boomers are much more suspicious of science and rationality and much more inclined to trust their feelings than other generations. Trump's budget sure shows it...)

In the second half of the book, Gibney exhaustively documents how in a range of policy areas - taxation, debt, education, environment, infrastructure, science, etc. - the Boomer generation has ignored long-term benefits in favor of short-term gains, leaving America economically less well off than it should have been but for the Boomers' short-term consumption-oriented choices. The fact that Boomers have saved less, spent more, and shifted the costs from themselves to future generations will leave anyone under the age of 50 pretty angry.

Gibney's argument is damning, well researched, and explains a lot that neither left-wing nor right-wing ideologues can fully explain. How else to explain a Democratic president (Clinton) cutting welfare, massively expanding the prison population, and cutting regulation of banks and a Republican president (George W. Bush) running up huge deficits by expanding benefits to seniors (Medicare Part D) while massively (and temporarily) cutting estate taxes (that primarily hit the Boomers' parents estates)? The common denominator is that these choices were good for Boomers.

Gibney is also really funny - his prose is sharp and biting, but laugh-out-loud funny. If you want a totally unique take on why America has gone off the rails, this is it. ...more

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Mar 22, 2017 Tony Canas rated it really liked it

This one is a bit out there and it's very much on purpose. He makes a strong and well researched case that the Baby Boomers have essentially screwed every other generation in the country through the use of their larger numbers and their tendency to vote. They have legislated for their own benefit from the moment they turned 18 and continue to do so today with little regard for others. While I wouldn't call any of the specific Boomers I know a sociopath, their generation has behaved like that man ...more

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Jun 16, 2017 Scott Lupo rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction

From the title I thought this book would be little tongue-in-cheek. Not so much. Gibney takes the definition of Sociopath from the DSM-V and applies it to the Baby Boomer generation. And it is seriously damning. I have certainly had my issues with the Boomers, as any of my friends could tell you, but Gibney takes it to another level. He covers so many topics including the Vietnam war, science, technology, economics, debt, social security, taxes, politics, neoliberalism, and much more. No doubt i ...more

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Mar 13, 2017 Wayne Pyle rated it it was amazing

Controversial and timely...a great read!

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Sep 13, 2017 Kieran Seán Fitzpatrick added it

Shelves: audible, humanities

Couldn't help but think of the book when I saw this comic.

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Jul 06, 2017 Joshua rated it really liked it

Shelves: library-checkouts

A Generation of Sociopaths chronicles the rise of the "baby boomers" into political power and determines that their policies are all directly tied only to their own self-interest and greed, thus leaving the American economy and stature in it's current position.
After reading, it's hard to argue with Gibney. He backs up all his points with reliable data, however, at times it feels like he is stretching the DSM V definition of sociopath in order to lump the vast majority of the boomer generation in ...more

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Jun 10, 2017 Char Freund rated it it was ok

Recommended by a friend as a way to explain rise in white supremacy and how seemingly nice people were condoning bigotry against refugees, LGBT, etc
Guess easy summary is baby boomers are selfish and want to keep the whole pie for themselves. Author feels they got this way by being told they were special thus putting individual wants above the needs of others.
Felt this was an oversimplification and he tried too hard to stress his unproven theory. Hard to read so I just skimmed through it.

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Jun 30, 2017 Wendy rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Interesting concept, but reads more like an essay stretched into a book. Many statistics, which may serve to lend credence to the author's assertions, but ultimately make it dry reading.

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Aug 19, 2017 Abby rated it did not like it

If you are going to read this book, something you have to keep in mind is that the author is an extremely wealthy and successful investment banker and venture capitalist. Throughout the book, he fails to see that what has actually caused the problems in America that he points to in the data such as the decrease in savings rate, increase in cost for college, failure to address environment change, and discrediting of science are people exactly like himself. He uses broad generalizations about cher If you are going to read this book, something you have to keep in mind is that the author is an extremely wealthy and successful investment banker and venture capitalist. Throughout the book, he fails to see that what has actually caused the problems in America that he points to in the data such as the decrease in savings rate, increase in cost for college, failure to address environment change, and discrediting of science are people exactly like himself. He uses broad generalizations about cherry-picked quotes from a single book on psychology to support random points, basically saying that anyone who exhibits any of these behaviors to any extent must be a "sociopath". He depicts young people's desire to avoid going to war in Vietnam as a selfish thing, as though wishing not to be in the military for a war you didn't sign up for somehow makes you a bad person. I should go ahead and just keep my mouth shut, even if I don't want to be there? Why should someone else determine for me that I might go die in a war they're not fighting in themselves, especially one more about politics than any real safety concern for my country? It is human nature, not just the nature of one generation, to wish to live freely, make choices about whether or not to be sent off to potentially die, and to protest when it affects you personally. He depicts sexual promiscuity and the use of illegal drugs as "sociopathic" behavior - surely just because this can be a symptom of sociopathy doesn't mean that every single person who engages in this behavior is a sociopath. He even states himself that he holds more "conservative" values on this front - did you ever consider this may affect your views on that behavior? People engaging in promiscuous sex and using LSD might conflict with your own personal values, that's your decision. However, those actions didn't cause or even predict the issues with our country today, and to draw some kind of line between that and calling every person who engaged in that behavior a sociopath is insane. There were plenty of cultural influences going on that created those movements beyond just being a selfish sociopath as the author likes to think. Funny, considering the author talks about a resistance to living in reality and fact as a quality of sociopaths. He sounds exactly like what he is, a conservative, old, Christian white man blaming Hippies just because he doesn't like them.

Overall, I do believe that our country has declined in many areas since the 1970s, but I don't think it's the fault of an entire group of normal people responding to the culture and society they find themselves in. The real creators of this reality are the extremely wealthy (like our author), who make up the majority of lawmakers and the ones who make decisions such as cutting tax rates, going to war, and whether or not to support and subsidize education. The average person can only look at this reality and decide how to make the best of it for themselves and their families, and it's unfair to characterize the rise of the influence of the wealthy as the decisions of an entire generation. The contribution of the average person was in deciding who to vote for, this is true. However, when you look at the world today, corporations and the wealthy have an even more extreme amount of influence than they ever have. This is the real trend line we should be looking at as we look for who to blame for where we find ourselves today.

One last note, I am not a Baby Boomer. I am a Millennial, and I think this is the rantings of a wealthy person trying to spread the blame onto everyone instead of those like himself. I have so much more I could say about this book, but overall it sounds like blatant bullshit from a conservative man who wants to blame more open sexuality and liberal values instead of the few who actually caused the problems. ...more

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Mar 25, 2017 Nikki rated it liked it

Not as good as I hoped. The arguments are not well thought out or articulated. It was a fun read regardless.

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Apr 18, 2017 Matthew Gault rated it it was amazing

Read it and get mad.

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Jul 08, 2017 Mark Denega rated it really liked it

When the Occupy protests sprung up in 2011, a Gen X-er commented to me that the more provocative conflict for him was intergenerational warfare, not class warfare. He thought that anyone under 30 ought to be marching for Social Security and Medicare reform, admittedly an unsexy issue. 6 years later, this book has given credence to that remark via thoroughly researched policy and personal behavior patterns on the part of the Boomers.

Requires reading for Millennials especially. Our futures have be ...more

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May 19, 2017 Jay Dougherty rated it did not like it

Shelves: never-finished

More of a polemic than a fact filled critique of the baby boomers. this book ignores larger historical trends to meet the author's thesis of baby boomers as a generation of sociopaths. There is an entire chapter dedicated to the anti-scientific tendencies of boomers as if it was something novel ignoring that many of the most successful technology companies of the last 40 years were created by them (Microsoft and Apple) and the trend towards anti-scientific thought tends way before this generatio ...more

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May 18, 2017 Rebecca rated it liked it

Self-serving, self-centered, self-gratifying, self-promoting and probably a few more "selfs" basically describes the boomer generation, especially the biggest bubble sections where the sheer population swell caused such a boom. Too long told how special they were, they internalized the story and felt entitled to everything they could get for themselves. So focused on their own reflections they couldn't bear to look away and see the damage their greed was causing. Now, of course it isn't ALL of t ...more

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Jul 08, 2017 Dana_kendall rated it it was amazing

Well, white baby boomers probably will not appreciate this book, but that's to be expected. For those of us in the generations thereafter who, for years to come, will have to clean up the mess they left behind, this book has some welcome solutions and a great deal of venting...to a fault, at times. The author cannot resist snarky comments throughout the narrative.

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Jun 19, 2017 Eric Chang rated it it was amazing

Definitely worth reading - it's not just boomers, but their children as well. As an immigrant coming from Asia during the 90s, i'm always amazed by the unbelievable entitlement many boomers and their children exhibit at school and workplace, which is very different from my prior impression of the greatest generation of Americans who fought WW2 selflessly and saved the world. Things like a former President's wife or a corrupt businessman who never paid tax would run for President? This would be c ...more

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Jul 14, 2017 Mary Ruthless rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and have discovered the best way for me to actually get through nonfiction titles--listen to them!

Part of the reason I enjoyed this book so much was, tbh, pure pettiness. I'm sick to death of hearing how millennials have ruined everything and are the worst generation and so selfish. This book highlights the truth in some of that but also shines a light on where and from whom these comments are coming.--the boomers. The author presents clear data with tons of refer ...more

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Dec 20, 2017 Sklape rated it liked it

As a baby boomer, I was curious about this book even though I thought the premise a bit absurd. How could an entire generation be sociopathic?
I know that us baby boomers had it easy compared to kids of today. Our parents made good wages to support us, could afford the house in the suburbs and take us on annual vacations. Higher education was cheap and most of us began our twenties debt free unlike subsequent generations. However, to indict all of us for the problems of today is just ridiculous. ...more

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May 08, 2017 Eric Wurm rated it it was amazing

Shelves: first-reads

Can an entire generation of people be sociopaths? No. Can an entire generation frequently act as if they were sociopaths? Bruce Cannon Gibney says the answer is "Yes!"

The author claims in his lengthy and well-cited book that the voting patterns and political activity of the "Boomer" generation show traits that can be associated with sociopathy in the Diagnotic Statistical Manual (DSM-V). In each chapter he discusses particular sociopathic traits and how they pertain to the mindset of the Boomer Can an entire generation of people be sociopaths? No. Can an entire generation frequently act as if they were sociopaths? Bruce Cannon Gibney says the answer is "Yes!"

The author claims in his lengthy and well-cited book that the voting patterns and political activity of the "Boomer" generation show traits that can be associated with sociopathy in the Diagnotic Statistical Manual (DSM-V). In each chapter he discusses particular sociopathic traits and how they pertain to the mindset of the Boomer collective.

The author discusses such political topics as various as taxes, equity, financial risk, debts and deficits both personal and private, health care, wages, vice legislation, penal code, civil rights et cetera.

The author sees patterns in Boomer legislation and political activity. As they came into their own and started developing equity, they enacted laws lowering taxes on capital gains and interest. As they started to pine for the American Dream of home ownership, regulations on taking high-risk mortgages was loosened. When they were approaching adulthood, the legal drinking age was lowered, and then raised again when it was of little benefit to them. They claim credit for taking on civil rights issues, but many of these issues were before or after their time. They've taken on massive debt during their political reign and these debts are likely to accumulate as they reach retirement age and begin to request benefits. They'll still have the political capital to keep these benefits in place as they age further. When they were young, the penalties for drug use were minor. We now have a prison system full of drug users convicted of non-violent offenses. The infrastructure has seen little maintenance and is in need of overhaul, a cost which will also likely be pushed onto future generations. Their action on the most important issue of their day, climate change, has been highly insufficient and future generations will bear the cost. In the opimion of this reviewer, their sociopathy came to full fruition when a person that has many sociopathic traits was elected as President of the United States.

The author makes many situational cases for a generation acting collectively as sociopathic in nature. They had the size and political will to obtain largely whatever they wished, and they've received their wishes at their demand.

While certainly we cannot simply point to one particular group of people as being to blame, the actions of the most powerful generation have given us many societal problems that they will largely leave as a legacy for the rest of us. Will the Boomers change course and start taking their share of responsibility for current and future problems? Only time will tell.

Disclaimer: This book was provided free of charge for the purpose of review by the fine publisher Hatchette.

Further disclaimer: Any publisher that provides a quality book free of charge will be referred to as a "fine publisher". ...more

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Nov 19, 2017 Tara L. rated it liked it

A lot of good points but the book fails to take into account the social limitations of the times. For example, the chapter on hedonistic tendencies makes the case that the generation before boomers were much more content and willing to stick it out when it came to marriage. Our grandmothers never had a choice the way our boomer mothers did. In other chapters, the author is spot on but then suddenly falls into sweeping generalization that does not distinguish between the haves and the have nots i ...more

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“Uncle Jim may think kids these days are terrible (Snapchat! Tattoos! Jeans in the office!), but when confronted with the evidence of what actually happened in the Sixties, he might fall refreshingly silent, especially when you explain exactly how many of your tax dollars subsidize his health care. The nonsociopathic wing of the Boomer generation may also find value in seeing the acts of their contemporaries in a different light and be persuaded to stand against a sociopathic agenda that serves them at the expense of their children.” — 2 likes

“The central theme of this book is that America’s present dilemma resulted substantially and directly from choices made by the Baby Boomers. Their collective, pathological self-interest derailed a long train of progress, while exacerbating and ignoring existential threats like climate change. The Boomers’ sociopathic need for instant gratification pushed them to equally sociopathic policies, causing them to fritter away an enormous inheritance, and when that was exhausted, to mortgage the future. When the consequences became troubling, Boomer leadership engaged in concealment and deception in a desperate effort to hold the system together just long enough for their generational constituencies to pass from the scene. The story of the Boomers is, in other words, the story of a generation of sociopaths running amok.” — 2 likes

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