David Brooks & Teenage Sophistication

Last updated on: March 29, 2004 at 4:51 pm by Fred Clark

4 Comments

David Brooks & Teenage Sophistication 2004-03-29T16:51:31-05:00 Fred Clark

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Some years ago my then-flatmate Rich set out to open a cafe in his hometown of Wayne, Pa. This was good news for me, since roasters and growers began deluging our Ardmore apartment with samples of their goods.

Rich had no money of his own, but he found a financial partner who appreciated his attention to detail, his capacity for hospitality and his passion to create a "great good place." (The phrase comes from the title of this book by Ray Oldenburg, which inspired Rich to get into the coffehouse biz.)

About six months after Rich opened The Gryphon, another cafe opened about a block away. Rich was worried he might lose some business, but he continued to thrive even after a third cafe — and then a Starbucks McCafe — opened during the following year.

The Gryphon is, indeed, a great good place. The coffee and menu, the music and ever-changing artwork, and the fine taste in music have made the cafe a gathering place for everyone from Rotarians and church groups to college students and skateboarding teens.

Even David Brooks has visited, although he didn't seem to notice the Rotarians when he skipped by. Here's how he described the place in his 2000 book Bobos in Paradise:

The town [Wayne, Pa.], once an espresso desert, now has six gourmet coffeehouses. The Gryphon draws sallow-eyed teenage sophisticates and hosts poetry readings. …

This description struck me as odd. I'm neither a teenager, nor a sophisticate. Nor am I "sallow-eyed." I suppose I've seen kids in the place who might fit Brooks' description, but I've also seen Mainline businessmen in there reading The Wall Street Journal before catching the R5. There's a blind-man-and-the-elephant slant to Brooks' description. His sketches sometimes carry the selective exaggeration of a caricaturist.

But then Brooks' description of Wayne in general was a bit strange. "Over the past six years or so … a new culture has swept into town and overlaid itself" he writes, citing examples such as:

A fabulous independent bookstore named the Reader's Forum has moved into town where the old drugstore used to be (it features literary biographies in the front window), and there's a mammoth new Borders nearby where people can go and feel guilty that they are not patronizing the independent place.

Reader's Forum is a gloriously idiosyncratic place where books aren't so much shelved as piled and stacked seemingly at random, yet the proprietor seems to know exactly what's in stock and exactly where it is. I just talked to him to confirm that what I remembered was accurate — the store has been in Wayne since 1986.

The proprietor noted that Brooks' parents still come in once in a while, just as they did at the store's old Ardmore location before it moved to Wayne. "Nice people," he noted. "Teachers." It seems odd to cite a store your parents have shopped in for decades as evidence of a new trend.

The nearest Borders is either the one at the King of Prussia mall or the one in Rosemont. Both are several towns away and a pain in the neck to drive to from Wayne.

Details like those don't undermine the essential thrust of Brooks' argument in Bobos. It still seems to me that the book describes something real. Yet this laxness leads me to read Brooks' New York Times columns with a bit more of a skeptical eye — if not a sallow one. If you want to describe something real on the basis of a few telling anecdotes, you need to make sure those anecdotes are accurate.

In the April issue of Philadelphia magazine (via Atrios and Tapped) Sasha Issenberg follows up on more of Brooks' anecdotal evidence and finds much of it insupportable.

One shouldn't overstate the implications of Issenberg's long list of "Boo boos in paradise" — Brooks' selective use of fact-esque illustrations does not make him Stephen Glass. But Issenberg's fact-checking does provide a helpful reminder that sweeping generalizations based on colorful storytelling and choice anecdotes ought not to be taken as scientific truth. Particularly when those choice anecdotes don't turn out to be true.

UPDATE: Kevin Drum thinks Issenberg is being unfair to Brooks:

… finding exceptions to Brooks' generalizations is both trivial and pedantic, especially when Issenberg admits multiple times that Brooks really does have a point.

Fair enough. My point here is that when I read Brooks' book I had firsthand experience with some of the places he described, and his descriptions of those places didn't ring true for me. This made me wonder about his descriptions of things I didn't already know about. Issenberg's piece suggests that my experience isn't unique.

I agree with Kevin — and with Brooks, who is quoted in Issenberg's piece — that many of Brooks' observations in pieces like "Patio Man" are really just jokes. As Issenberg also notes, many of them are, in fact, recycled versions of Tim Allen and Jeff Foxworthy jokes. But when was the last time you heard somebody refer to Jeff Foxworthy as a "public intellectual"?

Uncategorized

Previous Post

March 29, 2004

Racist eye doctor returns

Next Post

March 30, 2004 Alistair Cooke (1908-2004)

Recent Comments

4 Comments | Leave a Comment

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category class warfare evangelicals Iraq Left Behind Mammon music Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

According to Jesus, how should we treat our neighbor?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Ignore them With suspicion As ourselves With anger