Declining Fortunes: The Withering of the American Dream

This was a good book about attitudes of people in the baby boom generation. I missed the baby boom generation by a couple of years but I knew a lot of friends that felt they would not get their appropriate piece of the pie. I read this book back in 1994 when I was a MBA student. The prevailing thought was that the 90's would be a time of austerity. Another book which exemplifies that feeling is the "End of Affluence". Some of the credit for our IMPROVEMENT over the predicted results belong to the President (Clinton) and the Congress (both parties). One significant MILESTONE was that the home ownership rate reached record levels (especially amongst minorities)in the 90's. The author Katherine Newman did a great job at telling person stories of baby boomers and their children and their predicted plight. I do not blame the author for getting this wrong. I am just glad that it did not come true.

Being a child of baby-boomers, I found this book extrememly informative and helpful in understanding the complexity of achieving the American dream. Newman does a wonderful job at exploring the lives of the population in a small town, both the post-war parents and their baby-boomer children. The struggles they have to endure throughout their lives led to a much better understanding to what life really means to different people all around the U.S.. I would highly recommend this book.