Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010

highly recommended

i'm not sure why an author has to be "self-aware" as opposed to "self-absorbed" to write on a topic (i can find several examples of excellent books by authors who are most likely self-absorbed). in addition, how a reviewer boasts a solid conclusion to that effect is beyond self-righteousness. most likely an effect of being in an elite bubble that Murray wonderfully describes in the book. otherwise, how does a person say something subjective - unless he is a professional psychologist - as calling someone self-absorbed in an assured way as to seem objective? because he assumes he is right about everything, thus making him an elite. perhaps not in status, but in his own mind.

the "Tom Wolfe" reviewer also uses the word "obviously", without backing his assertions up with any amount of proof or argument whatsoever. i found this to be another example of the absolutely obvious nature of the reviewer's self-righteousness.

the statistics and conclusions in this book are incredibly rational with subjective nuances about human nature in tact. i will leave the potential reader with one example that does not necessarily require statistics or more proof than we've all seen with our own eyes: Murray comes to the conclusion that children brought up (gasp!) in two-parent homes do better in life.

Murray also brings up several points regarding the pursuit of happiness as it was originally intented in what he calls "the American Project". in so doing, he uses basic definitions of happiness as opposed to "unhinged hedonism" some may associate with happiness in modern times.

the book brings up excellent points about how culture is affecting destructive or what he calls "unseemly" behavior that results from a society with less codes of honor or morals. one such example he provides is an "unseemly" severence package for a failed CEO. Murray points out that these packages are NOT illegal but are morally reprehensible. in other words, Murray concludes that a society that loses it's moral bearings erodes itself from the inside.

even if one disagrees with Murray's conclusion(s), it will provide the reader with a facinating read for those interested in the social sciences, or even human nature in general. [one can preview Murray's presentation and summary of the book on booktv's website - i believe only the elite would find Charles Murray "self-absorbed" because they can never admit they are wrong or argue on topic]

8 out of 11 people found this review helpful.

stats right conclusions wrong; as usual

Tom Wolfe should be ashamed to have his name associated with this book. Mr. Wolfe was self aware enough to know that the subjects he chose to write about were nothing but a small piece of the puzzle. Not so Mr Murrey. In true self absorbed rather than self aware fashion, much like David Brooks, he takes very good statistics and comes to all the wrong conclusions. I had such high hopes.

Read it for the statistics. Read it for the unintentional exposure of how people like Mr. Murrey think. But, despite the subtitle, do not take it seriously as a true sociology report. It is not. His premise that the 'new rich' have isolated themselves to the point they do not understand what goes on outside their "bubble" is true. Obviously he has.

8 out of 35 people found this review helpful.

Reads like a textbook

I read this book on the recommendation of my father-in-law so we could discuss it. While I did find it interesting, it read like a high school or college sociology textbook. I do not recommend it for Nook as the line graphs are hard to read and he refers to them often and it is hard to find them again.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Excellent

Excellent analysis of societal shift. Reads like a text book.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Eye-opening

Startling statistics. So startling that even if half of what he says is true, it's hard to discount his basic premise. If you've ever felt like the classes were much further apart in America than they've ever been, this book provides some possible explanations. Recommended.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

A reasonable presentation of the social changes occurring in America today.

Murray relates his perspective of the social changes over the designated time frame, the resulting grouping of like minded population clusters, and the likely results therefrom.
It may be that such "clustering" is to be expected and perhaps we shouldn't be too surprised by such. Someone else said it, but I suggest it applies in this case..."birds of a feather flock together".

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Highly recommend

This is an enlightening and compelling book. It was much more so because Mr. Murray limited his data to only the white population, which took away the racial bias he had been accused of in some of his earlier work. I would have been interested though in hearing Mr. Murray expand on his views regarding the specific underlying political and social policy events that help to explain the changes that began to occur during the 70s and 80s. Were Medicaid and other social programs contributors, such as the expansion of the definition of disability under the social security program? Also what impact might illegal drug use have had, or was the increase in illegal drug use a consequence of the social/economic disparity that was beginning to occur during those decades?

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Charles Murray describes the collapse of the white American wor

Charles Murray describes the collapse of the white American working class since the early 1960's and the rise of a segregated and self absorbed upper middle class. He presents two hypothetical towns that he names Belmont and Fishtown. Murray uses many impressive graphs to describe the divergence of values between rich and poor of the two hypothetical towns.

Murray asserts that the lower classes in particular, have grown less virtuous, industrious, responsible, religious or community spirited. The upper classes, according to Murray, do much better according to his standards. The author criticizes the upper class for its lack of interaction or involvement with the lower classes. He uses some thought provoking examples to support his position. For example, the rise of children out of wedlock among never married working class parents has depressing implications for society.

Despite his quantitative format, the author sweeps aside intervening variables that are not consistent with his view of the world. Other inconvenient variables are mentioned, but otherwise ignored. Murray regards America as a less virtuous place than in 1963, when we had Jim Crow oppression of minority people in large parts of the country. But by focusing only on white people, he can easily avoid this issue.

Murray’s solution is to return to the days when everyone fended for themselves, which seems ironic. The author reveals social trends that might surprise anyone who has not been in a VFW hall, but look carefully for the intervening variables that he ignores or discounts in order to meet his world view.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Interesting and Counterintuitive

This is not light reading, but author Charles Murray does make sociology and statistics understandable to the lay reader. His picture of the trajectories of the white upper and lower classes since about 1960 is in some respects just the opposite of media stereotypes. He is concerned and I think rightly so about the growing rigidity of socio-economic class distinctions in the US even as most Americans continue to deny that such classes exist at all. What to do about it is another matter. Murray admires how most of the upper class live their lives and wishes they would preach what they practice. That might help or not, but it doesn't seem like a one stop solution to the various problems he outlines.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Interesting points, dry presentation.

This book was my first reading experience in the field of social sciences. After reading it, I now know why I am not a sociologist.
The facts that Murray presented in Coming Apart concerning the shifts and changes that have taken place in American society over the last fifty years were very interesting, and he put into words and numbers trends and movements that I have vaguely sensed but never fully understood before.
However, the sheer amount of detail he included was overwhelming, to say the least. Three hundred pages of detail, followed by another hundred pages of appendices. Everything was presented in an orderly manner with plenty of explanation and interpretation of the data, but I couldn't help thinking as I read, "You could have made the same point just as powerfully in about 1/3 the words".
As I said, I'm not a sociologist, so there could be elements of the book that I failed to appreciate. However, as a reasonably good reader, I found Coming Apart to be simply too overloaded with dry details. The points the author made were interesting, though, and I for one wouldn't mind reading a condensed version of this book if one were to be published.

I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for my review. A favorable review was not required; my opinions are my own.

Well written and carefully researched...conclusions are identified as Libertarian

A rather exhaustive treatment of the selected groups, it is likely your conclusions as to alternative remedies will not fully agree with the authors. He admits and sets this out as probable by giving his own bias in advance. He is sure of dire results and most will accept that, however, the complete reduction in Americas world position seems less likely to be gernrally accepted and seems a long leap of faith, based as it is, on a small slice of the totality of American culture.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.