Ill D's Reviews > The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure

In spite of an incredibly Pollyana-ish ending, Coddling of the American Mind is an otherwise superbly well written and well researched book about one of the most pressing issues of contemporary American politics: Political Correctness. Standing comfortably aside modern intellectual heavyweights such as Jordan Peterson who have critiqued our cultural milieu, I was not the least bit surprised with the message within. However, I was particularly surprised to discover that A: the authors are neither Republicans nor Right-Wing in any fashion (as stated in the book, they’ve voted Democrat their whole lives) and B: That Political Correctness is just one gear in the machine of the world before us.

Compounded with Safetyism (which is mind-bogglingly out of place in the safest era in recorded history), For-Profit-Colleges (that want to rope in customers for as long as possible), and a newly mutated ladder in life in which most every aspect of maturity has been delayed, Haidt and Co. have presented a well-rounded picture that is deservingly multi-faceted and complex yet eminently readable and accessible for anyone with an IQ over 90. Given all the source material used, I was pleasantly surprised to read such an enjoyably well written tome that is as pertinent as it is convincing.

While I certainly don’t agree with all their politics, conclusions (and even some of the research itself), having found myself working with Millennial peers over the past few years, this book has made me all the more aware of the immense shifts in culture and attitudes that have forged this generation and their values. For the most part, there really is, “nothing new under the sun,” but, for this generation, and the next, a whole host of changes have occurred and will certainly continue to occur and I hope we can have excellent researchers and educators as Haidt and Co. to help us make sense of the complexity before us.

Thanks for listening.