Issue No.
32
February 2010
|
|
|
|
|
| Welcome to February’s review of books |
 Tim Black
‘Blame it on the boogie’, sang the late Michael Jackson. Today the cri de coeur is ‘blame it on the boomers’. The baby boomers, those Westerners born in the baby boom that followed the Second World War and who mainly grew up in a time of free education, increased liberalism and no absolute poverty, are today blamed for all sorts of social and economic ills. Their social experimentation caused family breakdown, apparently. Their pursuit of plenty sucked up many of the planet’s precious resources, we’re told. Their consumerist lust brought about the financial crisis, and so on. In reality, says Frank Furedi in this issue of the spiked review of books, the boomers were creative producers rather than mere consumers, and their demonisation today springs from a depletionist view of history and the neo-Malthusian idea that resources are finite. It’s time to give the boomers a break. We also have Philip Hammond on the truth about Darfur, Emily Hill on Martin Amis the pub bore, Rob Lyons on a green-leaning critic of environmentalism, and much more. Enjoy! [Cover illustration by Jan Bowman.] |
|
