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FM Recommended Reading List

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After Mike’s [[http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/3/15/94454/9342|dust-up]] about the “Millennial” nomenclature, and the subsequent [[http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/3/17/114227/902|conversation about naming this generation]], I’ve seen quite a few references to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Strauss|Strauss & Howe]], whom I’ve never read.

What’re the most important books on the Millennials? I’m talking about demographic research, not influential cultural artifacts for the generation. Strauss and Howe, for instance, have four books that look pretty relevant:

  • Neil Howe, William Strauss, Generations: The History of America’s Future, 1584 to 2069, 1992, ISBN 0-688-11912-3
  • Neil Howe, William Strauss, 13th Gen : Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail?, 1993, ISBN 0-679-74365-0
  • Neil Howe, William Strauss, The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy, 1997, ISBN 0-553-06682-X
  • Neil Howe, William Strauss, Millennials Rising : The Next Great Generation, 2000, ISBN 0-375-70719-0

If there’s only time to read one, which first? What’re the the first entries in the Millennial-demographic cannon? Suggestions in the comments.

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March 17th, 2007 10:15am
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Other books

Submitted by Michael Connery on Sun, 2007-03-18 05:38.

Don’t know about other books. I read Millennials Rising (which was pretty good) and a bunch of white papers from the New Politics Institute. The rest of my reading is focused on older youth vote stuff, particularly in relation to the Democatic Party.

Dispatches from the Culture Wars Tom Hayden’s bio: Rebel

There is a dearth of information about the late 70s and 80s. Youth vote completely dropped off the map, most likely sucked into Nader’s anti-consumerist movement, the Reagan Youth on the right, or anti-nuke activism on the left.

Millennial Politics~

Submitted by Joshua Gorman on Sun, 2007-03-18 06:53.

‘Millennials Rising’ is a solid place to start, but if you really want to be introduced to Strauss and Howe’s generational theory, read ‘The Fourth Turning’ which distills the essence of their magnum opus ‘Generations’ and also puts forth their generational forecasting for the Millennials.

There’s more books out there on Millennial marketing & business than on Millennial politics & culture, but I know there are a number of books on the latter category that are currently in the works.

Scott Beale and Abeer Abdalla self-published a book titled “The Millennial Manifesto: An Activist Handbook By, For, and About the Millennial Generation.” Strauss and Howe wrote the foreword to it, it’s an amateur production that disappoints in many ways, but it’s still an important one to know about for anyone writing on the Millennials and their politics. (there’s a website www.millennialpolitics.com connected to this book but it’s been inactive for quite some time and is lacking in as many ways as the book.) http://www.amazon.com/Millennial-Man…

2030 and 3rd Millennium

Submitted by Michael Connery on Sun, 2007-03-18 08:14.

Some of those 2030 and Third Millennium folks (the progressive ones at least) ended up working at Rock the Vote or some of the other “nonpartisan” groups. I don’t think either have been active in 4 or 5 years. I will check out the manifesto though, thanks for the rec.

I haven’t read 4th Turning. A buddy of mine who has said that Millennials Rising hits all the important points, at least as far as our generation is concerned. Considering how much I dislike in the Strauss and Howe analysis, I’m also a little leery of going back to their older work to get a perspective on Millennial Politics. Strikes me as very dated and probably more ill-informed in some respects than parts of Millennials Rising.

Can you speak to that, Joshua?

Required Reading in the sidebar

Submitted by jpb on Sun, 2007-03-18 22:30.

could we attach that here? (The “Required Reading” didn’t link to a node of its own, otherwise I’d link it). Also, I’d love to hear a line or two or three abt the books listed and why they’re important. I picked up Bowling Alone, but my reading list is about 12 miles long, so if books are going to jump into queue in order for me to read them anytime soon, a little proselytizing can go a long way.

Book list

Submitted by Michael Connery on Mon, 2007-03-19 03:49.

Not sure what you are asking here.

Bowling Alone is VERY good. I highly recommend adding that to your queue. Just a great explanation of how social capital has declined. Good history of how/where the current crop of progressive nonprofits arose from with their Pay/Membership model and direct mail strategies. Lots of good stuff about those old bowling and bridge clubs and union halls and what not.

Hillariously dated and wrong information about the internet, though some points where Putnam ended up being dead-on. Or at least as much as he could at the time of the writing.

Dispactches from the Culture Wars - awesome account of how Democrats started attacking culture in the 80s and 90s. Good rudimentary history of Rock the Vote. I’ll actually be pulling some of Goldberg’s cultural arguments into my book.

The Dana Fisher book is pretty good. Personally, if you are reading a lot, you could probably just read the review I wrote and listen to the podcast I did with her. It’s archved on this site in my blog. Just google Dana Fisher and Future Majority.