Primal Screams: How the Sexual Revolution Created Identity Politics

by Mary Eberstadt

Who am I?  The question today haunts every society in the Western world.   Legions of people—especially the young—have become unmoored from a firm sense of self. To compensate, they join the ranks of ideological tribes spawned by identity politics and react with frenzy against any perceived threat to their group.  As identitarians track and expose the ideologically impure, other citizens face the consequences of their a litany of “isms” run amok across all levels of cultural life, the free marketplace of ideas muted by agendas shouted through megaphones, and a spirit of general goodwill warped into a state of perpetual outrage.   How did we get here? Why have we divided against one another so bitterly? In  Primal Screams , acclaimed cultural critic Mary Eberstadt presents the most provocative and original theory to come along in recent years. The rise of identity politics, she argues, is a direct result of the fallout of the sexual revolution, especially the collapse and shrinkage of the family.   As Eberstadt illustrates, humans have forged their identities within the kinship structure from time immemorial. The extended family, in a real sense, is the first tribe and teacher. But with its unprecedented decline across various measures, generations of people have been set adrift and can no longer answer the question Who am I? concerning primordial ties. Desperate for solidarity and connection, they claim membership in politicized groups whose displays of frantic irrationalism amount to primal screams for familial and communal loss. Written in her impeccable style and with empathy rarely encountered in today’s divisive discourse, Eberstadt’s theory holds immense explanatory power that no serious citizen can afford to ignore. The book concludes with three incisive essays by Rod Dreher, Mark Lilla, and Peter Thiel, each sharing their perspective on the author’s formidable argument.  

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, Cultural, Sociology, History, Philosophy, Feminism

192 pages, Hardcover

Published August 26, 2019

About the author

Mary Eberstadt is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, consulting editor to Policy Review, and contributing writer to First Things. Her articles have appeared in the Weekly Standard, the American Spectator, Commentary, the Los Angeles Times, the London Times, and the Wall Street Journal. Her previous books include The Loser Letters and Home-Alone America.

Reviews

[Douglas Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very good book, of the kind that labors to get educated people to come to grips with the obvious. In this case, it is that the sexual revolution laid the foundation for the insanity of identity politics.

[Jason Carter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mary Eberstadt makes a sweeping claim in this book: that the modern phenomenon of identity politics is a response to the fundamental question, "Who am I?" the answer to which has been decimated by the sexual revolution. Where previously the answer was some combination of the family, church, and communal ties that circumscribed an individual's relationship to the world around him, the tenuous ties to these bedrocks of civilization lead 21st century man to scrounge for other answers to the fundamental question.

While it is impossible to be certain about causation, Eberstadt supports her thesis well, including four chapters each dedicated to a different line of "supporting evidence:"

1) Understanding the "Mine!" in Identity Politics;
2) Feminism as Survival Strategy;
3) Androgyny as Survival Strategy; and
4) How #MeToo Reveals the Breakdown of Social Learning.

Throughout, Eberstadt uses psychological studies, lessons from history, patterns of animal behavior, and anecdotal evidence to support her claims.

You don't necessarily have to agree with her thesis to benefit from her arguments. The book concludes with essay responses from three notable commenters, not all of which agree with Eberstadt.

Highly recommended.

[Jim Teggelaar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short work but Mary Eberstadt makes every page count. In trying to root out the causes for all the anger of those involved in identity politics, she takes us back to the Sexual Revolution and all the baggage it brought with it. The baggage is remarkable and far reaching, and Eberstadt does a great job unpacking it. Our author argues that with no interest in God, fathers MIA and the crackup of the family, these players in identity politics have a difficult time answering the age old question Who Am I? To compensate, they seek ideological tribes and react in frenzy to any perceived threat to their group. She writes that what we are witnessing is not really politics at all, but a "primal scream from communal creatures trying to identify their own." Read it for an interesting and persuasive take on some of the noise that is our time.

[Maureen]

I can't properly rate Primal Screams because while it is well-written and researched, and offers three commentaries that don't necessarily agree with the author's thesis, I can't agree with the author's argument either. There is a lot of interesting information here about how the animal world can inform us about our own society and how important the family is in the socialization of children into eventual adults. But her alleged focus--identity politics--almost becomes the tail that can't quite wag the dog. For me, what Eberstadt has proven is that identity politics is yet another symptom--along with drugs, suicide, depression, poor grades, isolation, rebellion, etc--of a child crying for help, for the answer to the existential question, "who am I?"

I tend to think that Mark Lilla's commentary starts down the right path. While the sexual revolution and the breakdown of the family have had a negative impact on children and, as each generation grows up in broken families, on society, the sexual revolution didn't necessarily cause the breakdown of the nuclear family. It may have been part of it, but the sexual revolution itself was part of a bigger societal change--that of the growing power of women over their lives and the realization that they had a right to happiness, not a life of suffering their husbands' physical or verbal abuse, not a life stuck in a home doing housework, not even a life of motherhood. Women had choices. And that realization of course upended the world that men were used to. We've all had to come to terms with that and work to see each other differently. If #MeToo is any example, that coming to terms isn't over yet.

(One note: In talking about women gaining their freedoms, I am certainly not excusing women who walk away from their children; that is inexcusable, as is pure hedonism or lackadasical mothering in a world where we are in dire need of responsible adults. )

Eberstadt seems to get some of this, but as a conservative, she can't help herself. The liberals have to be at fault. As she puts it:

"No-fault divorce, out-of-wedlock births, paid surrogacy, absolutism about erotic freedom, disdain for traditional religious codes: the very policies and practices that have chipped away at the family, and helped to provide the subsequent flight to identity politics, are those that liberals and progressives embrace."

Sorry, but I know many people who are left of center who embrace none of those things and plenty of right-of-center folks who have taken advantage of them. Why paint everyone with the same brush? Lilla instead points out that prosperity and technological advance have had greater impacts on the family than the sexual revolution. I am inclined to agree with him, and think more longitudinal studies of families in situ is needed before we can make broad statements about the impact of the women's rights movement (which Eberstadt labels "feminism" and proceeds to demean more recent manifestations of the movement) on the family.

Primal Screams will make you think, especially if you have teenage children who are involved in identity politics. But the downside of the book is that it continues divisive political attacks that dominate our once-civil public discourse. If the right and the left continue to blame each other for every social problem, we'll miss the bigger picture that people like Mark Lilla can help reveal and thus fail to help our children, who are crying out for us to fix things.

[Glenn Wishnew III · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anytime The Gospel Coalition, a University of Chicago professor emeritus of Social Thought and Harvard Law professor agree on anything, I take that thing seriously.

And they all concur that these ideas are important enough to be taken seriously.

[Alice Kerr · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wish i hadn’t picked this book up. It lost me after 10 pages and never once managed to convince me of Eberstadt’s central argument: that the oh-so-terrible identity politics of the 21st century are directly linked to women’s sexual autonomy and general societal secularity. The entire book felt slap dash and the supporting evidence weak - a project within which Eberstadt gave herself a grandstand to preach and complain about current society to her heart’s content.

[Phil Cotnoir · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having read a few of Eberstadt's books now, I have figured out how her arguments work on me. She doesn't convince me with proofs and stats, but she makes it impossible to ignore the evidence she brings forth to support her thesis. One has a nagging sense she is right, and then she ladles on another anecdote, another insight, another study.

In this case, I found her argument mostly compelling. There's definitely something significant there - the link between the sexual revolution and the identity politics of today. Pair this with Carl Trueman's recent books and it all starts to add up.

[مصطفی حسامی · Rating 5 out of 5]

بسم الله

این یک اثر بسیار تأمل برانگیز و دارای اهمیت تاریخی است و البته یک اثر دیستوپیایی (ویران‌شهرنما) است که انسان را نسبت به آینده بشر بسیار بدبین میکنه و متأسفانه این روایت ویران‌شهرنما بسیار مستند و واضح به نظر میرسه.

خانم ابرستاد استدلال میکنه که انقلاب جنسی و فمینیستی دهه ۱۹۶۰ که از امریکا آغاز شد و باعث اضمحلال اخلاق جنسی سنتی و خانواده هسته ای سنتی شد عامل اصلی شکل گیری «سیاست هویت» در این کشور و هر جای دیگه دنیا است که از این انقلاب تاثیر گرفته. سیاست هویت بر این مبنا ناشی از احساس تنهایی و سردرگمی وسیع شهروندانی است که در مقیاس تمدنی به خاطر افول خانواده دچار مشکل هویتی شده اند و هویت خانوادگی نداشته خود را با پیوستن به این یا آن گروه هویتی اجتماعی فریاد می‌زنند: «فریادهای غریزی» چنان که در تیتر کتاب منعکس شده.

نویسنده برای استدلالش به مطالعات روی حیواناتی که در قفس یا دور از خانواده نگهداری شدند استناد میکنه. این جور حیوانات اغلب دچار مشکلات روحی و رفتاری مثل پرخاشگری میشن و مهارت بقاء در محیط طبیعی خودشون رو هم از دست میدن (در حقیقت به خاطر تربیت نشدن به دست والدین خودشون این مهارت ها رو به دست نمیارن). بله، تحقیقات اخیر اثبات کرده که حتی مهارت های حیوانات در تغذیه و جفت یابی و دفاع از خود اکتسابی است نه ذاتی یعنی نه اون طور که دانشمندان قبلا فکر میکردند؛ پس اگر خانواده و گروه و کامیونیتی به اصطلاح نباشه این مهارت ها رو هم یاد نمیگیرند.

خانم ابرستاد استدلال میکنه که «بی پدر و/یا مادر» شدن نسل های جدید بشر به خاطر افول جدی خانواده و ازدواج و فرزندآوری همین بلا رو سر بشریت آورده. به آمار فزاینده بیماری های روحی بین بچه هایی که خارج از خانواده پایدار به دنیا اومدن (تک والد، یا با والد ناتنی) استناد میکنه. به عدم توفیق برنامه های اجتماعی دولت برای حمایت از کودکان بی سرپرست استناد میکنه و این که چه طور دولت نمیتونه جای پدر و مادر رو پر کنه. به افزایش مشکلات روحی و رفتاری در بین دانشجویان و بزرگسالان در نسل های جدید استناد میکنه. به سونامی تجاوز جنسی در ملل لیبرال استناد میکنه که از نظر او هم به خاطر شهوانی شدن فرهنگ در اثر صنعت هرزه نگاری است و هم به خاطر این که مردان جدید که در کنار خواهر و مادر و عمه و خاله و ... دیگر بستگان از جنس مخالف بزرگ نشدند اصلا دیگه نمیتونن به جنس مخالف نگاه غیرجنسی داشته باشن چون نگاه عاشقانه اما غیرشهوانی به جنس مخالف اصولا در خانواده شکل میگیره و هم به این خاطر که زنان حتی تحصیل کرده اغلب تنها بزرگ شدن و تنها زندگی میکنن و پدر و برادری نداشتن که از اونها حمایت کنه یا بهشون یاد بده که در اعتماد به مردان غریبه باید مواظب باشند و این زنان هم به خاطر تنهایی و احساس نیاز خیلی راحت به مردان غریبه اعتماد میکنند.

خیلی نوشتم ولی این کتاب نکات هنوز بسیار بیشتری داره که یادداشت کردم و الان به یاد ندارم. در انتهای کتاب چهار بازبینی هم اومده که یکیش انتقادی هست و به این اشاره میکنه که نویسنده به سبک زندگی جدید که پرهزینه است و باعث عدم تمایل به فرزندآوری میشه رو توجه نکرده. فرد دیگری به عدم پرداخت کامل نویسنده به نقش نظام سرمایه داری بازار آزاد ایراد گرفته گرچه هیچ کدوم از این دو منتقد نقش انقلاب جنسی رو منکر نمیشن و با نویسنده موافق هستند. بازبین اول اما از همه جالب تر هست. او در تأیید نگاه مذهبی نویسنده اصلی که بی خدا شدن غرب رو هم مؤثر میدونه (دقت کنید در مسیحیت انسان فرزند خدا است و علاوه بر پدر انسانی یک پدر معنوی هم داره) به سرنوشت امپراطوری روم هم اشاره میکنه: این نویسنده میگه یکی از ویژگی های امپراطوری روم در دوره فروپاشی گسترش وسیع روابط آزا�� جنسی جورواجور بین اهالی روم بوده! بر این مبنا این استدلال نویسنده رو تقویت میکنه که یک فروپاشی وسیع در انتظار امریکا است و تمام مللی که به انقلاب جنسی دچار شدن!

این کتاب باعث میشه نسبت به روندی که در جامعه ایران هم مدت ها است آغاز شده بسیار بیشتر نگران بشیم!

اگر فرصت کنم این کتاب مهم را هم ترجمه خواهم کرد!

[Caden Mccann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was interesting, looking at how the rise of identity politics corresponds with a need for a familial home that has become more pronounced as people have become more atomized. While acknowledging multiple causes for this growing atomization, Eberstadt looks specifically at the post-1960's sexual revolution and how it has weakened the family, which was once the primary tribe. Thought-provoking and well-written.

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

Mary Eberstadt is one of those establishment Christians that seem to believe Jesus was an agent for Pilates and the only way to love God is to empower Caesar.

[Readingtomycats · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have observed most of what she explains in this book, and it is an excellent essay on the topic.

[Mr. · Rating 3 out of 5]

An original and important work, but the author's premise concerning the relationship between the sexual revolution and identity politics is fallible. Mary Eberstadt offers a compelling viewpoint on the identity politics currently running amok in Western society, but the cause of it is likely not related to the sexual revolution. If the birth of the pill and more sex-positive attitudes caused anything, it was the relief of many societal burdens on American citizens, from giving women more control over their bodies to enabling prospective parents with more family planning methods. Even if identity politics was borne from the sexual revolution, today's irrationality can be fixed without reverting back to a pre-pill era. The gains in women's sexual and reproductive freedom should not be considered a reason that familial breakdown has occurred in recent decades. Eberstadt does not support this aspect of her argument with enough evidence. She refuses to entertain the idea that today's many behavioral and cultural shifts are the products of past social phenomena that remain misunderstood.

[Lisa.Thorseth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally, an answer to the baffling question of why so many of our young are confused about their own nature, especially with respect to sexual orientation/identity. While discovering the root of identity politics, this reader changed her view of the confused folks from one of disapproval and impatience to that of profound sympathy. Very engaging, fast read.

[Kayteejyyz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Though some of the ideas were interesting this was short and definitely crosses the line into victim shaming. The concepts laid out were interesting and I do think that the cultural changes of the past obviously shape the present, but again as is far too common, here is an explanation that absolves men of their own responsibility to be decent. Mostly this made me angry.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty disappointing. The title names a clear and interesting-sounding thesis but the book is thin (lit. & fig.), not so much badly argued as just barely argued at all, with a lot of repetition and a lot of what some of my old philosophy tutors called "hand-waving", i.e. gesturing in a direction rather than plotting out, or taking, the steps that get you there.

I couldn't help noticing that Eberstadt is a rather clumsy writer too - wordy and imprecise, and given to supporting massive claims with footnoted links to newspaper and magazine articles.

Eberstadt makes the sexual revolution more or less synonymous with the steady demise of the traditional nuclear and extended family, and (semi-)argues that identity politics has emerged in attempts to fill the gaping voids that demise has - she says - created. I'm open to being persuaded by that but, besides not making a fantastic case for it, she also falls into the glaring error of not paying any attention to the downsides of that traditional family setup. So, where one could see the whole story as (1) a great leap forward or (2) a long jump out of a frying pan into a fire, she seems (mainly by omission) to see it as an expulsion from Eden, brought about pretty much unwittingly by feminism, civil rights movements, contraceptives and so on.

She does of course carefully, and no doubt sincerely, stress that she recognises the wrongs of the old ways. But then, it seems to me, she leaves herself in a bind (unacknowledged): if the old ways included grievous wrongs, and the changes from them to the current scene (heavily featuring identity politics) are inevitable consequences of the breakdown of the old ways, then... what? Should we go back? She doesn't say that... Is there another way? Why haven't we gone that way in the first place? How can we get there from where we are? (There are a couple of unconvincing nods at that question.)

I'm aware I've left some big gaps here (like not defining "i.p." or explaining what's up with it). Sorry!

There are three "response" essayettes, one from a neo-Benedictine and two from "liberal" writers - again, it's a nice idea to have a civil and genuine debate within a polemical book, but it doesn't amount to much here, the responses being too short and sketchy to add up to much.

On the plus side, she's writing on an unquestionably important subject (how did things go so crazy?) and she makes a few interesting suggestions - for details of them, look at some of the other reviews here, which are at time of this writing mostly four- and five-star accolades. Where I differ from those reviewers is that I don't think she makes her case particularly well, not that I think it's not an interesting one or that the thesis is completely silly.

I look forward to a better book on the same themes.

[Lasse Birk Olesen · Rating 3 out of 5]

SOME NOTES:
* Like researchers find that social animals like elephants suffer mentally and develop psychiatric conditions when they are removed from their family, so should we expect the social animal of humans to suffer when families are on the decline.

* Author traces the decline of family back to the sexual revolution. For instance, the pill has made infidelity easier.

* For young men getting attracted to the far right, one cause may be "the poor prospects they now face for finding happiness in building a familiy", caused by the decline of monogamy.

* "Postrevolutionary man, deprived of the likelihood of a son by contraception, abortion, and other practices, might logically if unconsciously respond by pressuring daughters to behave more like sons."

* #MeToo might have been caused by more men growing up without sisters, not allowing them to form intimate non-sexual relations.

* In a commentary appendix, liberal scholar Mark Lilla agrees on tracing back identity politics to the decline of family, but disagrees with tracing it back to the sexual revolution, which he think is a just-so story.

* Peter Thiel adds in a comment that lacking economic expectations for the future is another source of conflict, causing people to look for change in other areas like identity and other zero sum games.

* It makes sense to me that identity politics can be caused from a loss of identity. It provides a new identity. Whether the decline of family identity is the primary identity loss causing this is hard to say. Could also be town, community, religion, nation, or otherwise.

[John Reis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eberstadt begins her book by talking about how we used to believe that wolves were loners. But it turns out that they are intensely familial animals as are coyotes and orcas and elephants. “Animals in captivity- typically separated from their families and surrounded by non-related animals in an unnatural setting- exhibit behaviors markedly dissimilar from those left in nature.” “Wolves living in families, explain Temple Grandin and Katherine Johnson, do not have dominance fights.”

Eberstadt argues that the cause of the identity crisis we are living through right now is the sexual revolution of the 60s. As a result of contraception, divorce, artificial insemination and the availability of abortion, children grow up with fewer siblings than in past generations; they do not know who their fathers or cousins are. There is no extended family to teach those social rules which we all need to get along in the world as adults. Who am I? is the defining question of our era. We grasp in uninformed ways to answer that question for ourselves.

I would argue that all of our current scene is the end result of a decades long experiment in prosperity. Children were value add in agrarian times. Not so now. I think it began before the sexual revolution. Nevertheless, this book has a great many intelligent things to say about our time.

[Mary Sasala · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book “is not easy reading. Nor is it meant to be.”

I was expecting a standard political narrative like those written by Glen Beck. This was nothing like that. This was dad more intellectual and very heavy on philosophy and psychology.

She looks at identity politics and tried to explain where it comes from, psychologically. She draws the conclusion that families are failing and she attributes that to the sexual revolution.

Her parts on the need of families on individual and societal level was really interesting, though it just filled my bucket it didn’t change my mind. Her take on #MeToo was really good and how the break down of the family led to the issues that #MeToo brought forth.

My favorite part was at the end she had people make disagreements with her thesis. One is a liberal and he had a fascinating take on it. Here was my favorite quote by him:

“Conservatives want to combat social liquidity while celebrating the economic liquidity; liberals do the reverse. We have yet to see a coherent ideology that addresses both problems simultaneously.”

[Jarl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Primal Screams offers an interesting perspective on identity politics. It is not an evaluation of the merits of identity politics, but rather an analysis where identity politics is seem as a symptom of the breakdown of the family. Despite the shortness of the book Eberstadt provides convincing evidence for her thesis.

Her claim is that after the ties to pre-political associations like family, church and local community have been hurt by the sexual revolution a new generation have come to find their self-understanding and identity in political causes. According to Eberstadt this might help to explain the growing PC-culture on American campuses as well as the fierceness and infantile nature of what has come to be labeled "social justice warriors".

There will undoubtedly be many contributions in the years to come that will try to wrestle with the question of identity. It is without a doubt a very salient aspect of our age. If one wants to better understand it, Primal Scream is a good place to start.

[Paul Dubuc · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book starts an important conversation about what ails us as human beings in the modern world with an analysis of the root cause of today's "identity politics" which goes deeper than politics and ideology to the influences behind the "Great Scattering" of family members in our society. What seems like an extreme pursuit of self identity among many young people is seen as a primal reaction to the loss of the natural sources of identity long depended upon by animals and humans for their flourishing. Mary Eberstadt offers a thoughtful and thought provoking point of view. The discussion continues with other differing viewpoints from Rod Dreher, Mark Lilla and Peter Thiel. These are important and valuable insights. I hope this book gets a wide reading.

[Massood · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thought-provoking book that is necessary to read if you want to understand the dynamic shift in pre-political formation of identity politics. Mary Eberstadt dares to go in depth with a topic that inevitably makes you politically incorrect. Supplementing it with three commentaries that much or less challenge some of Eberstadt's writing gives a balanced way of ending the book and paving the way for more discussion.

In her book Eberstadt presents a clear argument in well-written manner. Sexual revolution has been celebrated among many, but Eberstadt emphasize some of its negative consequences, among other the unstable and lacking family structures it has created, which challenges the answer for the question, "Who am I?".

[Maurício Perez · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Quem sou?" é uma pergunta universal. No entanto, é difícil de responder quando outro questões básicas são problemáticas ou estão fora de nosso escopo. Quem é meu irmão? Quem é meu pai Onde estão meus primos,
avós, sobrinhas, sobrinhos e o resto das conexões que serviu de orientação para a existência diária da humanidade
até os dias atuais?

Com a erosão da família na última metade do século, muitas pessoas perderam sua identidade
e buscam um substituto para o reconhecimento e a solidariedade em grupos baseados em certos traços (raça, gênero, orientação sexual, origem étnica ...).

Excelente leitura. No final a autora convida três autores para comentarem suas ideias, mesmo quando dois deles tem um perfil de pensamento diferente do dela. Um bonito exemplo de diálogo nobre.

[Karen L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such truth! This is a well written book. Mary Eberstadt explained the problem with Identity politics through various true stories. In the early chapters I had to look up some definitions of the modern social science terms but as the book progressed her evidence poured forth with clarity. She is brilliant.

I highly respect her for including commentary by three social critics who have been speaking and writing on this topic for years. She included both conservative and liberal critics to participate and write their opinions and take on her research. She exemplifies decency in intelligent discourse.

[Jerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eberstadt provides a well-reasoned assessment of the havoc the sexual revolution has inflicted on American society. The impact of making sex an act bearing no responsibility due to the wide spread and accepted use of contraceptions has impacted every aspect of American life. Eberstadt addresses how traditional familial norms have been compromised, the individual's relationship with his/her religion and it's moral teachings have been compromised. Eberstat addresses the impact on how relationships between teens and young adults have been impacted by the availability of sex without consequence or meaning. This is a provocative book; a worthy read.

[Sara Christians · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like all Mary Eberstadt's books, this is an excellent read. She analyzes the phenomenon of identity politics and tribalism as a result of what she calls "The Great Scattering", a breakdown of the family unit as a result of the sexual revolution. I agree that many of the issues in the West can be traced back to the sexual revolution and the separation of sex from marriage and childbearing. Eberstadt is an excellent writer and shares many interesting insights. My only criticism is that the Commentaries included seemed unnecessary and not particularly well argued, especially after reading Eberstadt's arguments

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

A masterful thought piece of enormous importance

One core theme, that our sense of our own identity is heavily or primarily built on our family - parents, siblings, and extended family - is particularly compelling. Linkages to the broader animal world is are effective in solidifying the author's case. More broadly, the book is a wonderful thought piece. There may be many forces at play shaping our world and the bizarre identity movement, but this book captures at least some of the most important forces. It is a great help in understanding the infantile hysteria and directionless panic seen in particular among some on college campuses. It is food for thought.

[Erik · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thoughtful, cogent, brief analysis on the source(s) of one of the ways of thinking today--one's identity (even fluidly) dictates and explains everything. I read it in less than a day which is unusual but I was sick and had time to plow through it. Not the easiest read for I had to be unusually deliberate in my reading--for that, it reads more like an extended essay. The cross-analyses by others at the end definitely added balance and depth when I usually think they don't. Lots of other works were referenced which also added value.

[Kris Ziegelhofer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an important book. I thought the content was exceptional, and she is absolutely correct in saying the breakdown of the family is the elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about. It helped me better understand the people so devoted to identity politics that they often sound and act like children having a fit. The writing style is very academic, and I do wish that it would have been better simplified for the average reader. Despite that, I highly recommend!

[Mike Klein · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very interesting book. The author makes a pretty provocative claim, backs it up with some research, and then allows others to comment on her thesis, (including one who pretty much fundamentally disagrees). It is on the short side and while you might not end up totally agreeing, it would be hard to disagree that our current state of Identity Politics was if not created by at least heavily influenced by the result of the sexual revolution. Well worth the read.

[Eric C 1965 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eberstadt Calls SOS for the Family

Did not find much to disagree with on why we are living in the world we now do: identity politics caused by family breakdown, caused by the sexual revolution, caused by loss of religion.
What is somewhat unique is an interaction with 3 other writers of different perspectives as a commentary section at the end.
She also has a great bibliography for further study.