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The Aftermath: The Last Days of the Baby Boom and the Future of Power in America
A widely-read Washington Post columnist takes a deep dive into what the end of the baby boom means for American politics and economics.
Philip Bump, a reporter as adept with a graph as with a paragraph, is popular for his ability to distill vast amounts of data into accessible stories. THE AFTERMATH is a sweeping assessment of how the baby boom created modern America, and where power, wealth, and politics will shift as the boom ends. How much longer than we'd expected will Boomers control wealth? Will millennials get shortchanged for jobs and capital as Gen Z rises? What kind of pressure will Boomers exert on the health care system? How do generations and parties overlap? When will regional identity trump age or ethnic or racial identity? Who will the future GOP voter be, and how does that affect Democratic strategies? What does the Census get right, and terribly wrong? The questions are myriad, and Bump is here to fight speculation with fact
Writing with a light hand and deft humor, Bump helps us navigate the flood of data in which our sense of the country now drowns. He fits numbers into a narrative about who we are (including what we really means), how we vote, where we live, what we buy--and what predictions we can make with any confidence. We know what will happen eventually to the baby boomers. What we don't know is how the boomer legacies might reshape the country one final time. The answers in this book will help us manage the historic disruption of the American state we are now experiencing.
Philip Bump, a reporter as adept with a graph as with a paragraph, is popular for his ability to distill vast amounts of data into accessible stories. THE AFTERMATH is a sweeping assessment of how the baby boom created modern America, and where power, wealth, and politics will shift as the boom ends. How much longer than we'd expected will Boomers control wealth? Will millennials get shortchanged for jobs and capital as Gen Z rises? What kind of pressure will Boomers exert on the health care system? How do generations and parties overlap? When will regional identity trump age or ethnic or racial identity? Who will the future GOP voter be, and how does that affect Democratic strategies? What does the Census get right, and terribly wrong? The questions are myriad, and Bump is here to fight speculation with fact
Writing with a light hand and deft humor, Bump helps us navigate the flood of data in which our sense of the country now drowns. He fits numbers into a narrative about who we are (including what we really means), how we vote, where we live, what we buy--and what predictions we can make with any confidence. We know what will happen eventually to the baby boomers. What we don't know is how the boomer legacies might reshape the country one final time. The answers in this book will help us manage the historic disruption of the American state we are now experiencing.
416 pages, Hardcover
First published January 24, 2023
228 people are currently reading
1220 people want to read
About the author
Philip Bump
1 book16 followersPhilip Bump is a national columnist for The Washington Post. Prior to that he led politics coverage for The Atlantic Wire. In the past, he worked as a designer at Adobe Systems.
As one of the paper's most read writers, he focuses on the data behind polls and political rhetoric. He also writes a weekly newsletter, "How To Read This Chart." He has appeared or been heard on most major media outlets, from MSNBC to Fox News to PBS to NPR.
His first book, The Aftermath, looks at the overlap of the end of the baby boom and the upheaval in American politics and the U.S. economy.
As one of the paper's most read writers, he focuses on the data behind polls and political rhetoric. He also writes a weekly newsletter, "How To Read This Chart." He has appeared or been heard on most major media outlets, from MSNBC to Fox News to PBS to NPR.
His first book, The Aftermath, looks at the overlap of the end of the baby boom and the upheaval in American politics and the U.S. economy.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 118 reviews
March 5, 2024
This book describes the history, the present, and the anticipated future of the bulge in the population demographics caused by the "baby boom" (those born from 1946 to 1964). The book is loaded with graphs of all kinds to convey shifts in power and influence between the generations caused by a disproportionately numerous generation. I usually enjoy graphs, but this book comes close to over doing it.
First the baby boom caused a rush to build more schools, and then the colleges were expanded. Boomers dominated the work world for many years, and now that generation is slowing bankrupting the Social Security retirement system. Eventually there will be a boom in the death industry (i.e. funerals). This book even speculates on where they're all going to be buried.
Even today's housing crisis is caused partly by baby boomer not dying fast enough (i.e. they're living longer than the preceding generations). They seem to be the cause of many problems. The term "OK Boomer" is not a compliment.
You may have noticed that I referred to baby boomers as "they." That is because I missed being a baby boomer by being born during the last days of 1945. So I'm not at fault for all the problems caused by their presence.
First the baby boom caused a rush to build more schools, and then the colleges were expanded. Boomers dominated the work world for many years, and now that generation is slowing bankrupting the Social Security retirement system. Eventually there will be a boom in the death industry (i.e. funerals). This book even speculates on where they're all going to be buried.
Even today's housing crisis is caused partly by baby boomer not dying fast enough (i.e. they're living longer than the preceding generations). They seem to be the cause of many problems. The term "OK Boomer" is not a compliment.
You may have noticed that I referred to baby boomers as "they." That is because I missed being a baby boomer by being born during the last days of 1945. So I'm not at fault for all the problems caused by their presence.
August 27, 2022
OK, Boomers, let's talk about your impact on American society. The massive baby boom generation -- 76 million Americans born from 1946 to 1964 -- upended the previous norms in American society and set the pattern for future generations. As children, the boomers' presence demanded more funding in education; as teenagers, boomers' access to spending money and the new-ish technology of television made them ripe targets for marketing; and as adults, boomers steadily accumulated wealth and power that they continue to hold in their retirement years today.
Bump's book reveals the many facets of how the boomer generation has influenced America's past, present, and even future. Using vast quantities of statistics from the US Census Bureau and other respected surveys, Bump analyzes the data and studies the boomer impact on culture, economics, and especially American politics, showing that though boomer numbers are starting to decline (slowly, thanks to longer life expectancy), this generation's power is at its peak and unlikely to drop much very soon.
Bump also identifies generational reasons behind America's current fractures. The data reveals a strong correlation between non-Hispanic white Americans and those Americans who fall into the baby boom generation, while younger generations are more diverse (with more immediate immigrant ancestry), and this difference (along with the influence of gender, education, and religious affiliation) impacts political views. It's a divide that has been used to persuade voters to fear immigration and racial tensions as a threat to the largely white society they've always known, and while many factors cause that message to find receptive ears, Bump makes the case for the generational gap to be a key factor.
The boomers will, of course, continue to influence the course of American society. Their trailblazing in their younger years has meant that subsequent generations continue to hold some sway over culture and marketing, and the needs of aging boomers -- increased health care and senior services -- have already prompted greater investment in those areas of the economy. And with boomers dominating political offices even now, they'll be making the decisions for all of us for some time to come.
This book isn't offering suggestions for how to change the boomer impact on America or giving future generations a roadmap to power; it's a detailed set of snapshots of where we are now as a country and how we got here, with questions to consider as we move forward. The extensive use of statistics and charts in the book can get a little overwhelming at times, and a point-by-point summary for each chapter would be helpful. All in all, though, it's an insightful look at one of the most influential generations this country has yet seen.
Thank you, Viking/Penguin Random House and NetGalley, for providing an eARC of this book. Opinions expressed here are solely my own.
Bump's book reveals the many facets of how the boomer generation has influenced America's past, present, and even future. Using vast quantities of statistics from the US Census Bureau and other respected surveys, Bump analyzes the data and studies the boomer impact on culture, economics, and especially American politics, showing that though boomer numbers are starting to decline (slowly, thanks to longer life expectancy), this generation's power is at its peak and unlikely to drop much very soon.
Bump also identifies generational reasons behind America's current fractures. The data reveals a strong correlation between non-Hispanic white Americans and those Americans who fall into the baby boom generation, while younger generations are more diverse (with more immediate immigrant ancestry), and this difference (along with the influence of gender, education, and religious affiliation) impacts political views. It's a divide that has been used to persuade voters to fear immigration and racial tensions as a threat to the largely white society they've always known, and while many factors cause that message to find receptive ears, Bump makes the case for the generational gap to be a key factor.
The boomers will, of course, continue to influence the course of American society. Their trailblazing in their younger years has meant that subsequent generations continue to hold some sway over culture and marketing, and the needs of aging boomers -- increased health care and senior services -- have already prompted greater investment in those areas of the economy. And with boomers dominating political offices even now, they'll be making the decisions for all of us for some time to come.
This book isn't offering suggestions for how to change the boomer impact on America or giving future generations a roadmap to power; it's a detailed set of snapshots of where we are now as a country and how we got here, with questions to consider as we move forward. The extensive use of statistics and charts in the book can get a little overwhelming at times, and a point-by-point summary for each chapter would be helpful. All in all, though, it's an insightful look at one of the most influential generations this country has yet seen.
Thank you, Viking/Penguin Random House and NetGalley, for providing an eARC of this book. Opinions expressed here are solely my own.
October 22, 2023
A few years ago, I attended the wedding of my then-27 year old niece. As I was only a few weeks away from my seventieth birthday, I was pleasantly surprised to find I was familiar with the music being played by the band at the reception. It was almost all sixties R&B and pop. At first, I thought that the music might have been foisted upon the bride by her Boomer parents, however she and her friends were enthusiastically dancing and many of them were singing along with the band and myself.
Although I might have been surprised by the musical preferences of my Millennial niece, Philip Bump would not have been. In this book he describes the way in which my Baby Boomer generation has imposed the music of its youth, and many other of its generational attributes, on its fellow Americans. In the process, he includes dozens of charts and graphs to bolster his arguments. However, this ground has been covered my other authors, and the primary concern of Mr. Bump can best be summarized as "What have the Boomers done to the country and what is going to happen once they're finally gone?"
Somewhere in the second half of the book, the focus turns from demography to politics. The author is not certain that my generation is totally responsible for the current dysfunctional state of American politics, but he does point out some obvious Boomer fingerprints. He is also hopeful that the succession of Boomers by Millennials to positions of power will be a turn for the better.
Although I might have been surprised by the musical preferences of my Millennial niece, Philip Bump would not have been. In this book he describes the way in which my Baby Boomer generation has imposed the music of its youth, and many other of its generational attributes, on its fellow Americans. In the process, he includes dozens of charts and graphs to bolster his arguments. However, this ground has been covered my other authors, and the primary concern of Mr. Bump can best be summarized as "What have the Boomers done to the country and what is going to happen once they're finally gone?"
Somewhere in the second half of the book, the focus turns from demography to politics. The author is not certain that my generation is totally responsible for the current dysfunctional state of American politics, but he does point out some obvious Boomer fingerprints. He is also hopeful that the succession of Boomers by Millennials to positions of power will be a turn for the better.
November 23, 2022
Maybe 3.5, gets a little number soup-ish, but it’s quippy enough to make up for it in many spots. Appropriately critical of the Boomers.
Reviewed for Booklist.
Reviewed for Booklist.
February 5, 2023
4.5 stars. This was deeply fascinating. I'm slightly younger than the boomers, and my parents are slightly older. Nonetheless, all of our lives have been impacted, not necessarily positively, by this outsized generation. And part of the fascination of this book is the way that Mr. Bump enumerated exactly how--occasionally in ways that were not obvious, or had never occurred to me before.
I used the word enumerated above, and I gotta say, there were a lot of numbers in this book. There were charts, graphs, statistics, percentages, etc. Data is quantifiable! At times it's a bit much, but at other times it was eye-opening. (And at other times, just wrong. Apparently, a woman born in the year that I was should lean Republican. Uh, hard NO to that.)
In total, The Aftermath was a bit depressing, as so many things are these days. Whether discussion of politics or finance or just how thoroughly racist our country is, there was a lot of news that I didn't necessarily want to hear. Still, it was very interesting. And there's a certain satisfaction in having things you've felt instinctually validated.
And regardless, change is on the horizon.
I used the word enumerated above, and I gotta say, there were a lot of numbers in this book. There were charts, graphs, statistics, percentages, etc. Data is quantifiable! At times it's a bit much, but at other times it was eye-opening. (And at other times, just wrong. Apparently, a woman born in the year that I was should lean Republican. Uh, hard NO to that.)
In total, The Aftermath was a bit depressing, as so many things are these days. Whether discussion of politics or finance or just how thoroughly racist our country is, there was a lot of news that I didn't necessarily want to hear. Still, it was very interesting. And there's a certain satisfaction in having things you've felt instinctually validated.
And regardless, change is on the horizon.
April 8, 2023
I listened to the Audible version while walking so didn’t take advantage of all the graphs that were “in the print version of this book”—a phrase that is repeated numerous times. So much research in this book and yet no hard and fast conclusions can really be drawn about what politics will look like in the future!
This book was written prior to the SCOTUS Dobbs decision as well as the many state referendums and elections that tried to take away a woman’s right to bodily autonomy. (So far they are not supported by the electorate). In addition, the expulsion of duly-elected state representatives (both Black) in Tennessee for “rules violations” when they joined a crowd of protesters who were protesting the inaction of lawmakers after the most recent school shooting in their state, also just happened. I can’t help but wonder if Generation Z and some Millennials will be more motivated to vote (whether or not they own a home) when they see their rights being taken away. It would be interesting to hear what the author thinks about these most recent events.
Over all, I enjoyed this book.
This book was written prior to the SCOTUS Dobbs decision as well as the many state referendums and elections that tried to take away a woman’s right to bodily autonomy. (So far they are not supported by the electorate). In addition, the expulsion of duly-elected state representatives (both Black) in Tennessee for “rules violations” when they joined a crowd of protesters who were protesting the inaction of lawmakers after the most recent school shooting in their state, also just happened. I can’t help but wonder if Generation Z and some Millennials will be more motivated to vote (whether or not they own a home) when they see their rights being taken away. It would be interesting to hear what the author thinks about these most recent events.
Over all, I enjoyed this book.
August 8, 2025
I am a boomer. Born almost at the halfway point—the baby boom is described as 1946 to 1964—my life has been defined by this huge wave of population—some 76 million people—that first increased a demand for diaper services and now, nearly 80 years later, retirement communities. Because so much of life in the United States—from economics to society to culture to politics—has been changed and defined by the baby boomers, what happens when the boom…ends?
This fascinating book by (former) Washington Post national columnist and Gen Xer Philip Bump explores the ramifications—some obvious and much that is not so obvious—of the baby boom. Chapters and charts (he loves charts, but specifically and helpfully explains how to read all 128 of them) and lots of statistics and numbers illuminate the impact on what is ostensibly still the loudest, but no longer the biggest, generational cohort. And lest the words "charts, statistics, and numbers" leave you cold, don't worry. Bump is a fabulous writer of words that kept me (mostly) enthralled the whole time.
What I found most interesting in this book is Bump's take on the baby boom's impact on politics—from local to national. Taken as a whole, this is a wealthy group that controls a lot of seats in Congress, not to mention giving us multiple presidents: Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump. Not surprisingly, the boomers are not one big voting bloc because the boomers are wildly different from one another. Yes, most of the MAGAs are old, white boomers, but there are plenty of liberals in this group, too.
A good portion of the book is not only about the current state of political affairs, including the country's recent swing to the far right and why Donald Trump is so popular with some groups, but also the future. Bump maintains—again with charts, numbers, and statistics—that although today's young people are less likely to belong to a political party, they are primarily liberal and are likely to remain so. (And the reason why is really interesting!) There is "a sense of disempowerment felt by the ascendent generation buried under and muffled by the scale of the baby boom," Bump writes, but then speculates on the impact these young voting liberals will have when the boomers die and they no longer feel buried and muffled. Spoiler alert: Republicans may be ruling the roost now…but just you wait.
But here is the basic point of the book: When you think about how the baby boom has affected our country in so many myriad ways for so many decades, it's impossible not to think about—and this is conjecture, of course—what happens when the baby boom is gone. What is their legacy and the future of America? Yes, it's speculation, but it seems spot-on.
These sentences in the book's concluding chapter gave me the shivers (and not in a good way): "What we can say with the most certainty is that the America into which the baby boomers were born is long gone and that the America they built is crumbling. The uncertainty is whether that America is replaced by ashes or, once again, a phoenix."
This fascinating book by (former) Washington Post national columnist and Gen Xer Philip Bump explores the ramifications—some obvious and much that is not so obvious—of the baby boom. Chapters and charts (he loves charts, but specifically and helpfully explains how to read all 128 of them) and lots of statistics and numbers illuminate the impact on what is ostensibly still the loudest, but no longer the biggest, generational cohort. And lest the words "charts, statistics, and numbers" leave you cold, don't worry. Bump is a fabulous writer of words that kept me (mostly) enthralled the whole time.
What I found most interesting in this book is Bump's take on the baby boom's impact on politics—from local to national. Taken as a whole, this is a wealthy group that controls a lot of seats in Congress, not to mention giving us multiple presidents: Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump. Not surprisingly, the boomers are not one big voting bloc because the boomers are wildly different from one another. Yes, most of the MAGAs are old, white boomers, but there are plenty of liberals in this group, too.
A good portion of the book is not only about the current state of political affairs, including the country's recent swing to the far right and why Donald Trump is so popular with some groups, but also the future. Bump maintains—again with charts, numbers, and statistics—that although today's young people are less likely to belong to a political party, they are primarily liberal and are likely to remain so. (And the reason why is really interesting!) There is "a sense of disempowerment felt by the ascendent generation buried under and muffled by the scale of the baby boom," Bump writes, but then speculates on the impact these young voting liberals will have when the boomers die and they no longer feel buried and muffled. Spoiler alert: Republicans may be ruling the roost now…but just you wait.
But here is the basic point of the book: When you think about how the baby boom has affected our country in so many myriad ways for so many decades, it's impossible not to think about—and this is conjecture, of course—what happens when the baby boom is gone. What is their legacy and the future of America? Yes, it's speculation, but it seems spot-on.
These sentences in the book's concluding chapter gave me the shivers (and not in a good way): "What we can say with the most certainty is that the America into which the baby boomers were born is long gone and that the America they built is crumbling. The uncertainty is whether that America is replaced by ashes or, once again, a phoenix."
July 10, 2023
This book is about Baby Boomers, the only generation statistically significant enough to warrant definition by the Census Bureau. The other generations are marketing and more like astrology than demography. I'm a millennial with a moon in Gen X and strong Gen Z placements of Mars and Venus.
I found out about this book because of The Department of Data column by Andrew Van Dam in The Washington Post which fills the void since The Straight Dope column by Cecil Adams at The Chicago Reader ended in 2018 after 45 years. I started reading Jeff Bezos' the WaPo when they hired the tech reporters Taylor Lorenz and Shira Ovide away from The New York Times but they seem to have more local news than the Gray Lady so I am tragically burdened by knowledge of D.C. suburbs such as Vienna and Rockville.
The Aftermath: The Last Days of the Baby Boom and the Future of Power in America isn't exactly a Department of Data spin-off but it's also written for the same audience of wonks. I read an excerpt from the book in the paper and I thought it was interesting. But, to be honest, I didn't have the patience for all the graphs in the book and I skimmed over many of them. Not a true wonk.
Early in the book he establishes that being a Baby Boomer, White and a Republican don't perfectly overlap but they overlap A LOT. Seventy-six million Americans born from 1946 to 1964 arrived at a particularly White time in U.S. history: low immigration in the 1920s due to legal restrictions and the "Mexican Repatriation" in which one million Mexicans and Mexican-Americans were ethnically cleansed from the U.S. Southwest in the 1920s (this fact is unfortunately omitted from Philip Bump's analysis in this book).
The timing of the midcentury Baby Boom and the postwar economic growth in the U.S. resulted in wealth, power and popular culture concentrated among White Baby Boomers during the 20th century and into the present. Another important factor is that in the 20th century, because of the low numbers of Hispanic/Latino and Asian people, "non-White" was almost synonymous with Black. Today that doesn't makes any sense because "non-White" comprises a bunch of different groups and the largest share are Hispanic Whites.
The second half of this book is mostly about me, Hispanic/Latino people younger than Baby Boomers. This is the crux of "Aftermath" part. Philip Bump provides a major caveat that we are notoriously bad at predicting the future. But if we are trying to determine where the political culture and the mainstream might be headed, it mostly depends if Hispanic/Latino people are racialized as Whites or if they even want to see themselves that way. The current GOP leadership uses the racist "great replacement theory" in order to mobilize older White voters, but it is not really true that the White population is declining. If you include the Hispanic/Latino Whites, the estimates indicate the U.S. will still be 2/3rds "White" in 2060. I was surprised that even many Asian-white and Asian-Latino people consider themselves "White alone" from the cited book The Diversity Paradox. That suggests the incorporative power of intermarriage operates differently for Black people than it does for Asians and Latinos. We simply do not know what racial categories there will be in 2060. Recognizing that our current system is rooted in anti-Blackness, I hope we have something more descriptive and not based on caste.
The book was thought-provoking but it left something to be desired about Hispanic/Latino people. The omission of Mexican Repatriation makes the analysis incomplete when he later cites California as one of the epicenters of the Baby Boom, from Landon Jones in Great Expectations. California and the rest of the U.S. Southwest is demographically going back to normal after a horrible catastrophe that was euphemistically called Mexican Repatriation. Bump also mentions religion and political alignment with respect to White Evangelicals but leaves out Hispanic/Latino Evangelicals. If you're Mexican American, you know all the Trumpers in your family go to the megachurch. I've never seen this taken seriously except by the TV show Bordertown, instead all the journalists are just mystified and say Latinos are becoming Republicans because historically they support caudillos. Finally, he alludes to a tripartite racial stratification but doesn't explicitly call it the Latin Americanization of race.
I found out about this book because of The Department of Data column by Andrew Van Dam in The Washington Post which fills the void since The Straight Dope column by Cecil Adams at The Chicago Reader ended in 2018 after 45 years. I started reading Jeff Bezos' the WaPo when they hired the tech reporters Taylor Lorenz and Shira Ovide away from The New York Times but they seem to have more local news than the Gray Lady so I am tragically burdened by knowledge of D.C. suburbs such as Vienna and Rockville.
The Aftermath: The Last Days of the Baby Boom and the Future of Power in America isn't exactly a Department of Data spin-off but it's also written for the same audience of wonks. I read an excerpt from the book in the paper and I thought it was interesting. But, to be honest, I didn't have the patience for all the graphs in the book and I skimmed over many of them. Not a true wonk.
Early in the book he establishes that being a Baby Boomer, White and a Republican don't perfectly overlap but they overlap A LOT. Seventy-six million Americans born from 1946 to 1964 arrived at a particularly White time in U.S. history: low immigration in the 1920s due to legal restrictions and the "Mexican Repatriation" in which one million Mexicans and Mexican-Americans were ethnically cleansed from the U.S. Southwest in the 1920s (this fact is unfortunately omitted from Philip Bump's analysis in this book).
The timing of the midcentury Baby Boom and the postwar economic growth in the U.S. resulted in wealth, power and popular culture concentrated among White Baby Boomers during the 20th century and into the present. Another important factor is that in the 20th century, because of the low numbers of Hispanic/Latino and Asian people, "non-White" was almost synonymous with Black. Today that doesn't makes any sense because "non-White" comprises a bunch of different groups and the largest share are Hispanic Whites.
The second half of this book is mostly about me, Hispanic/Latino people younger than Baby Boomers. This is the crux of "Aftermath" part. Philip Bump provides a major caveat that we are notoriously bad at predicting the future. But if we are trying to determine where the political culture and the mainstream might be headed, it mostly depends if Hispanic/Latino people are racialized as Whites or if they even want to see themselves that way. The current GOP leadership uses the racist "great replacement theory" in order to mobilize older White voters, but it is not really true that the White population is declining. If you include the Hispanic/Latino Whites, the estimates indicate the U.S. will still be 2/3rds "White" in 2060. I was surprised that even many Asian-white and Asian-Latino people consider themselves "White alone" from the cited book The Diversity Paradox. That suggests the incorporative power of intermarriage operates differently for Black people than it does for Asians and Latinos. We simply do not know what racial categories there will be in 2060. Recognizing that our current system is rooted in anti-Blackness, I hope we have something more descriptive and not based on caste.
The book was thought-provoking but it left something to be desired about Hispanic/Latino people. The omission of Mexican Repatriation makes the analysis incomplete when he later cites California as one of the epicenters of the Baby Boom, from Landon Jones in Great Expectations. California and the rest of the U.S. Southwest is demographically going back to normal after a horrible catastrophe that was euphemistically called Mexican Repatriation. Bump also mentions religion and political alignment with respect to White Evangelicals but leaves out Hispanic/Latino Evangelicals. If you're Mexican American, you know all the Trumpers in your family go to the megachurch. I've never seen this taken seriously except by the TV show Bordertown, instead all the journalists are just mystified and say Latinos are becoming Republicans because historically they support caudillos. Finally, he alludes to a tripartite racial stratification but doesn't explicitly call it the Latin Americanization of race.
October 20, 2023
Okay Boomers. :-)
I have a weird fascination with the generations and their definitional edges and characteristics. Probably because I'm Gen X and no one cares or pays the least bit attention to us. Give us some pre-made meals or microwavable food and cable TV and we're fine for days. We owned the COVID lockdowns.
But I digress.
As a journalist, Bump is able to take a bunch of data and charts and make it accessible and not boring and I appreciate that. I have previously been exposed to most of this information, but he knits it together into a compelling read. And I thought that the context that he put it in was very illuminating about the myriad impacts that Boomers have had on so many different factions of American life. It's a good read if you're at all interested in the generations, and the Boomers in particular.
I have a weird fascination with the generations and their definitional edges and characteristics. Probably because I'm Gen X and no one cares or pays the least bit attention to us. Give us some pre-made meals or microwavable food and cable TV and we're fine for days. We owned the COVID lockdowns.
But I digress.
As a journalist, Bump is able to take a bunch of data and charts and make it accessible and not boring and I appreciate that. I have previously been exposed to most of this information, but he knits it together into a compelling read. And I thought that the context that he put it in was very illuminating about the myriad impacts that Boomers have had on so many different factions of American life. It's a good read if you're at all interested in the generations, and the Boomers in particular.
November 7, 2023
Philip Bump is one of the reasons I subscribe to The Washington Post. Filled with statistics, demographics, trendspotting, and polls, this book is a good read.
February 28, 2023
Started out excellent and gripping. But somewhere 1/3 in, the author veered more to analysis of white people generally vs white boomers (of which they are the majority, of course). This was interesting for awhile but then i began wondering, “What about those boomers? Isn’t this book supposed to be about them?” The author has lots of graphs and tables that are overwhelming, even annoying, after the first 50 pages. The narrative was quite good until it seemed to devolve into statistic after statistic. Half way thru I was craving more text then tables, more expository prose than short quotes and percentages every otter sentence, and just got tired and stopped reading.
The author’s analysis and research is excellent and he clearly makes his point early in the book. But he lets tables and graphs get in the way of his fleshing out his narrative thesis, which was sound. I’d love to see an edited version of this book.
The author’s analysis and research is excellent and he clearly makes his point early in the book. But he lets tables and graphs get in the way of his fleshing out his narrative thesis, which was sound. I’d love to see an edited version of this book.
February 6, 2023
"The Aftermath: The last days of the Baby Boom and the future power in America" by Philip Bump.
I'm a Boomer myself.
This is documented, well-annotated, data rich analysis of the Boomers "coming in; and going out".
'N' charts/graphs/data - with all sorts of clues - (could have done without info about the relative age difference between James Bond and the 'Bond-Girls' over the years) - however many many interesting data nuggets.
The Boomers impact was as if - A gigantic python swallowed a pig - and the pig travelled through the python.
76 Million Boomers born between 1946 and 1964.
Schools had to be built; college capacity expanded; jobs provided. (Coming In) - Bump also talks about the Boomers 'Going Out' - with Boomers having impact on the Labor Market with Retirement; the largest wealth transfer in history (Boomers to their children and Grand Children) - while Boomers (who placed Trump in the White House) want to pay less taxes but require more services from the U.S. Government.
Bump talks a great deal about race.
Boomers were 70% non-White Hispanic.
Millennialls are 55% non-White Hispanic.
This difference creates one of many 'tensions'.
Another 'tension' about democracy - Boomers tell pollsters they favor 'democracy' - to a larger extent than Millennials.
About the future Bump makes the point correctly that predicting the future is hard. The future has many factors influencing it; and that simple solutions to complex problems (from ideological Cable TV Warriors) are usually wrong.
Is the U.S. headed towards being Florida? Culture Wars - environmental issues?
Book is 'moderate; in-the-middle' and should be attractive to those who favor data and analysis rather than ideological purity.
A good read, an important subject; no one fixed outcome scenario (hobby horse).
Should be of interest to those who study curren affairs and are concerned about the major issues facing the U.S.
Carl Gallozzi
Cgallozzi@comcast.net
I'm a Boomer myself.
This is documented, well-annotated, data rich analysis of the Boomers "coming in; and going out".
'N' charts/graphs/data - with all sorts of clues - (could have done without info about the relative age difference between James Bond and the 'Bond-Girls' over the years) - however many many interesting data nuggets.
The Boomers impact was as if - A gigantic python swallowed a pig - and the pig travelled through the python.
76 Million Boomers born between 1946 and 1964.
Schools had to be built; college capacity expanded; jobs provided. (Coming In) - Bump also talks about the Boomers 'Going Out' - with Boomers having impact on the Labor Market with Retirement; the largest wealth transfer in history (Boomers to their children and Grand Children) - while Boomers (who placed Trump in the White House) want to pay less taxes but require more services from the U.S. Government.
Bump talks a great deal about race.
Boomers were 70% non-White Hispanic.
Millennialls are 55% non-White Hispanic.
This difference creates one of many 'tensions'.
Another 'tension' about democracy - Boomers tell pollsters they favor 'democracy' - to a larger extent than Millennials.
About the future Bump makes the point correctly that predicting the future is hard. The future has many factors influencing it; and that simple solutions to complex problems (from ideological Cable TV Warriors) are usually wrong.
Is the U.S. headed towards being Florida? Culture Wars - environmental issues?
Book is 'moderate; in-the-middle' and should be attractive to those who favor data and analysis rather than ideological purity.
A good read, an important subject; no one fixed outcome scenario (hobby horse).
Should be of interest to those who study curren affairs and are concerned about the major issues facing the U.S.
Carl Gallozzi
Cgallozzi@comcast.net
March 11, 2023
I just couldn’t get my head into this. Lots of data, focused on the US.
September 11, 2023
I'm deeply impressed by how readable this book was, given the density of charts and statistics! Definitely an illuminating look at the generational politics that will continue to affect America for some time to come.
I would also like to give a special shout-out to pg. 170, which presents a chart showing the relative ages and generational affiliations of each James Bond actor and all of his Bond girls over time. Surprise! The age disparity is real. (I'm looking at you, Roger Moore.)
I would also like to give a special shout-out to pg. 170, which presents a chart showing the relative ages and generational affiliations of each James Bond actor and all of his Bond girls over time. Surprise! The age disparity is real. (I'm looking at you, Roger Moore.)
October 10, 2023
Moderately interesting. I thought it was going to be more about Boomers. Only the first quarter is, really. And then the rest is largely analysis of the contemporary political situation in America, most of which is very well trod ground. Still, somewhat useful to have it brought all together with a demographic lens. He delivers on what he promises in the sub-title.
September 9, 2023
Interesting statistics. Storyline less so.
June 9, 2023
Extremely well researched and admirably unbiased look over of the baby boom generation. As a late gen X / early millennial myself (yes, the cusp generation known as ‘Xennials’, or born in the years of the first (or second ;-) Star Wars trilogy movies), the in depth analysis of the boomers actually provided insight into the beliefs and modus operandi of this demographic giant of a generation.
March 2, 2023
I always thought that it was overemphasized how impactful the baby boomer generation is on society. This book goes into detail how the sudden massive increase in population affected everything - schools, the food system, entertainment, politics, you name it. It also partially explains why the future generations are the way they are. I found the whole thing fascinating.
April 20, 2023
If you are looking to be armed with well-researched, double-checked, and quite frankly damning numbers about the demographics of our country and their effects on its culture and politics, you've found the right book. While stuffed with more numbers than I would normally like in a book, it was exactly the way that author Philip Bump expressed numerical data from multiple angles that made his analysis of the US so compelling. It would seem the effects of the Baby Boom can hardly be understated, as well as the imbalance of power created by their differences from other generations. There are a lot of factors that have fed into the friction between generations-- it's not just the lead poisoning.
I would recommend this books to readers who are interested in generational politics and demographics, and are looking for explanations about why things in our country seem to just keep getting worse.
I would recommend this books to readers who are interested in generational politics and demographics, and are looking for explanations about why things in our country seem to just keep getting worse.
June 22, 2023
Aftermath by Philip Bump explores the national implications of the fading influence of the baby boom generation. The baby boom generation – those born between 1946 and 1964 and known as “boomers” – was massive compared to any generation that preceded it and that size has had a huge impact on our culture, economics and politics. As boomers entered school, an incredible number of schools were built and teachers hired. As boomers became teenagers, companies for the first time began to shift marketing to meet and shape their needs and desires. As boomers became consistent voters, they became over represented in our political system. And as boomers matured in age, they came to hold far more wealth than any other generation.
Boomers won’t have as big of an impact as they die because they will die more gradually over a longer period of time compared to the eighteen-year period in which they were born. As they are aging, however, they are beginning the long term shift in the nation’s population being older overall.
Boomers differ from generations that have followed in that they are whiter and less likely to be immigrants or have immigrant parents (because they were born at a time of historically strict immigration laws). While boomers were more likely to go to college than generations that preceded them, a smaller percentage of boomers attended college than did the generations that followed them. Likewise, while boomers were less religious than previous generations, they are more religious than subsequent generations. They are also more likely to participate in traditional institutions such as marriage, unions, political parties and social clubs. Boomers are also more likely to live outside of large cities.
The baby boom generation is more conservative than younger generations, but this can vary by gender (women are less conservative), education (those with college degrees are less conservative), and whether they live in rural vs. urban areas. Conservative boomers, overwhelmingly white, worry about demographic change toward a less white nation and have bought into conspiracy theories and falsehoods that play into their fears about racial displacement. Trump tapped into these fears and received much of his support from boomers.
Culture revolved for a long time around boomers, but ever since corporations discovered the profit in catering to teenage boomers, culture has been driven by the young and now culture has started to diverge from that which boomers are familiar. Some boomers are resentful about this cultural shift.
Boomers have a staggering amount of wealth that they will be passing on to their children, but because of existing wealth inequality (significantly by race), that transfer of wealth will be heavily unequal. Some of that wealth will be passed on before death, such as when parents take on some of their kids’ student debt or help with a down payment on their kids’ first home. Boomers also have a longer life span than earlier generations, so they will spend more of their wealth late in life on health care.
The baby boom generation will be a drain on social security, but it will not go broke as some politicians try to suggest for political reasons, because the millennial generation is nearly as big and will be paying in to the program. The more immigrants we allow into the country, the more there will be younger workers whose taxes will support the older boomer generation. We also need more immigrants to fill the jobs that boomers are retiring from, as well as the new jobs being created, which so far we do not have as a severe worker shortage is taking hold post pandemic.
Contrary to popular belief, there is unlikely to be a housing crash as boomers die or move into assisted living facilities because there is so much pent up demand from millennials wanting to own a home. Many of these millennials can’t currently afford to own a home because boomers back policies that limit the housing supply to the benefit of boomers as existing homeowners.
Though it is difficult to predict the future of the baby boom because we don’t know how long boomers will live (life expectancy has historically risen but suicide and drug overdoses among boomers is rising dramatically), we can’t anticipate the full impacts of climate change and how it will disrupt society, and because our democracy is now at risk as anti-democratic sentiments take a hold of the Republican party, driven by fear of growing minority populations.
The future is also unclear because of shifting racial categories. Irish, Italians, Poles and Greeks were all considered to be separate from whites and discriminated against in the U.S., but with marriage between these groups and Anglo-Saxon whites, they came to be considered fully white in our society. There is now so much inter-racial marriage that it is becoming increasingly complicated to categorize people by race. If a white and black person have a child, is that child counted as white or black? If that child marries a Latino, how is that child categorized? One answer is how the individual themselves answers the question and many will choose to identify as white for the cultural and political power that comes with that categorization. As we know, however, regardless of how one identifies themselves, how they are treated in our society will sadly often come down to their skin tone.
Younger generations are far more liberal and that is in part because they are far less white and non-white groups support Democrats at a higher level. It is a myth that people get more conservative as they get older as political partisanship tends to be fixed in one’s 20s. Hispanics in particular, however, shifted more Republican in the last election and that may be a sign that more conservative Hispanics will shift away from their traditional loyalty to the Democratic party, especially those without a college degree, men and those living in rural areas. Also, the increasing segregation by partisanship, in which Democrats tend to live in concentrated cities while Republicans tend to live in more dispersed rural areas, will benefit Republicans because our political system favors more spread out populations.
Ultimately, the book draws no solid conclusions. The future of the country is uncertain. While demographic trends suggest a more liberal and Democratic future, the state that most resembles what the U.S. will look like in 2060 is Florida, which recently turned hard to the right. The future of the country will depend on whether we will allow in more or fewer immigrants, whether racial identity is emphasized or de-emphasized (whites become more fearful and reactionary when their declining status is emphasized), whether minorities such as Hispanics begin to identify more as whites like the Irish and Italians eventually did, and whether we cool the overheated political rhetoric and defend our democracy or steer more toward extremist reactions to a changing America.
This book was interesting with the data it presented and the questions it raised. Much of the criticism about it having too many statistics and graphs, particularly graphs that are hard to interpret, are fair. It is frustrating that the book doesn’t offer more solid predictions about what the outcome will be of a fading boomer generation, but then again it is better that it doesn’t offer false promises when the future is never really predictable.
Boomers won’t have as big of an impact as they die because they will die more gradually over a longer period of time compared to the eighteen-year period in which they were born. As they are aging, however, they are beginning the long term shift in the nation’s population being older overall.
Boomers differ from generations that have followed in that they are whiter and less likely to be immigrants or have immigrant parents (because they were born at a time of historically strict immigration laws). While boomers were more likely to go to college than generations that preceded them, a smaller percentage of boomers attended college than did the generations that followed them. Likewise, while boomers were less religious than previous generations, they are more religious than subsequent generations. They are also more likely to participate in traditional institutions such as marriage, unions, political parties and social clubs. Boomers are also more likely to live outside of large cities.
The baby boom generation is more conservative than younger generations, but this can vary by gender (women are less conservative), education (those with college degrees are less conservative), and whether they live in rural vs. urban areas. Conservative boomers, overwhelmingly white, worry about demographic change toward a less white nation and have bought into conspiracy theories and falsehoods that play into their fears about racial displacement. Trump tapped into these fears and received much of his support from boomers.
Culture revolved for a long time around boomers, but ever since corporations discovered the profit in catering to teenage boomers, culture has been driven by the young and now culture has started to diverge from that which boomers are familiar. Some boomers are resentful about this cultural shift.
Boomers have a staggering amount of wealth that they will be passing on to their children, but because of existing wealth inequality (significantly by race), that transfer of wealth will be heavily unequal. Some of that wealth will be passed on before death, such as when parents take on some of their kids’ student debt or help with a down payment on their kids’ first home. Boomers also have a longer life span than earlier generations, so they will spend more of their wealth late in life on health care.
The baby boom generation will be a drain on social security, but it will not go broke as some politicians try to suggest for political reasons, because the millennial generation is nearly as big and will be paying in to the program. The more immigrants we allow into the country, the more there will be younger workers whose taxes will support the older boomer generation. We also need more immigrants to fill the jobs that boomers are retiring from, as well as the new jobs being created, which so far we do not have as a severe worker shortage is taking hold post pandemic.
Contrary to popular belief, there is unlikely to be a housing crash as boomers die or move into assisted living facilities because there is so much pent up demand from millennials wanting to own a home. Many of these millennials can’t currently afford to own a home because boomers back policies that limit the housing supply to the benefit of boomers as existing homeowners.
Though it is difficult to predict the future of the baby boom because we don’t know how long boomers will live (life expectancy has historically risen but suicide and drug overdoses among boomers is rising dramatically), we can’t anticipate the full impacts of climate change and how it will disrupt society, and because our democracy is now at risk as anti-democratic sentiments take a hold of the Republican party, driven by fear of growing minority populations.
The future is also unclear because of shifting racial categories. Irish, Italians, Poles and Greeks were all considered to be separate from whites and discriminated against in the U.S., but with marriage between these groups and Anglo-Saxon whites, they came to be considered fully white in our society. There is now so much inter-racial marriage that it is becoming increasingly complicated to categorize people by race. If a white and black person have a child, is that child counted as white or black? If that child marries a Latino, how is that child categorized? One answer is how the individual themselves answers the question and many will choose to identify as white for the cultural and political power that comes with that categorization. As we know, however, regardless of how one identifies themselves, how they are treated in our society will sadly often come down to their skin tone.
Younger generations are far more liberal and that is in part because they are far less white and non-white groups support Democrats at a higher level. It is a myth that people get more conservative as they get older as political partisanship tends to be fixed in one’s 20s. Hispanics in particular, however, shifted more Republican in the last election and that may be a sign that more conservative Hispanics will shift away from their traditional loyalty to the Democratic party, especially those without a college degree, men and those living in rural areas. Also, the increasing segregation by partisanship, in which Democrats tend to live in concentrated cities while Republicans tend to live in more dispersed rural areas, will benefit Republicans because our political system favors more spread out populations.
Ultimately, the book draws no solid conclusions. The future of the country is uncertain. While demographic trends suggest a more liberal and Democratic future, the state that most resembles what the U.S. will look like in 2060 is Florida, which recently turned hard to the right. The future of the country will depend on whether we will allow in more or fewer immigrants, whether racial identity is emphasized or de-emphasized (whites become more fearful and reactionary when their declining status is emphasized), whether minorities such as Hispanics begin to identify more as whites like the Irish and Italians eventually did, and whether we cool the overheated political rhetoric and defend our democracy or steer more toward extremist reactions to a changing America.
This book was interesting with the data it presented and the questions it raised. Much of the criticism about it having too many statistics and graphs, particularly graphs that are hard to interpret, are fair. It is frustrating that the book doesn’t offer more solid predictions about what the outcome will be of a fading boomer generation, but then again it is better that it doesn’t offer false promises when the future is never really predictable.
May 18, 2024
War has such far-reaching consequences and implications for society, politics, and culture, it’s not only difficult to ascertain those myriad ways, but sometimes, we also need the benefit of decades to better gauge the aftermath. As it happens, Philip Bump, national columnist for The Washington Post, tackles this in his 2023 book, The Aftermath: The Last Days of the Baby Boom and the Future of Power in America. See what I did there with “aftermath”? After WWII, by the end of 1945, more than 4 million soldiers returned to the United States. And they had babies. Lots of babies, in what became known as the Baby Boom generation. That generation, which began in the summer of 1946 (do the math on returning soldier + gestation), has completely altered the landscape of American life for the past 78 years, still continues to, and will likely continue to until at least 2042. In that sense, Bump’s book is both an “aftermath” of the Baby Boom generation, and a prognostication of the throes of that generation over the next 20 years.
One programming note: I listened to Bump’s book on audio, read quite well by Matthew Berry, and that’s an interesting experience considering what Bump is known for — at least what I know him for following him on Twitter and reading his work — which is numbers and charts. Berry states quite a few times, “In the print edition of this book is a graph depicting …” If I took a drink every time he did … So, I had to use my imagination. I think in parts, it would’ve been helpful for me to see those charts, i.e., have the physical book handy, but nonetheless, I found the book an engaging listen across 12 hours.
Between mid-1946 and mid-1964, the bookends of the Baby Boomer generation, 76 million babies were born. That’s staggering to consider, as Bump outlines, because in 1946, the American population was 141.3 million. To put that into context, that would be like if 180 million babies were born between 2021 and 2040. Imagine what that would do to American society, politics, and culture. Of course, I write this as a member of the Millennial generation (encompassing 1981 to 1996), when 72.2 million babies were born. Obviously, given the passing of time, Millennials are now the largest generation in America.
What undergirds Bump’s analysis of the Baby Boomer generation and how American society, politics, and culture reoriented in response to the influx of babies, and then teens — essentially, the “teen” was itself a product of the Baby Boom — is that America is starting to reorient away from the Baby Boomers because of the aforementioned Millennial generation (and Generation Z after us), and because of the changing demographics of what it means to be an American. To the latter, Bump points to U.S. Census data and projections that made a lot of news after the latest Census in 2020 that white people would be a minority of the population by 2060. There is all kinds of variables to parse, and parse Bump does, about such a projection (like what it even means to be any race or number of races and ethnicities), but he ties that back to the animus that propelled Trump to the White House in 2016, and which also by 2060, brings into the projection considerations whether the U.S. will even be constituted (heh) as a democracy then or a “united states.” (That seems hyperbolic on the face of it, but why assume our form of government will always be the way it is?)
What I love is that they found the first Baby Boomer, and Bump all these years later, also found and talked with her. Kathleen Case-Kirschling, born on January 1, 1946 (which disrupts our neat and tidy generational math, but hey), is considered the first Baby Boomer, and then became, naturally, the first Baby Boomer to file for Social Security retirement in 2007. In her lifetime, the U.S. has changed considerably, from a country with only 8,000 U.S. households having a television when she was born to 45 million households having them toward the tail end of the Baby Boom. Not to say anything, of course, of globalization, the internet, and the iPhone (which took far less time to be in the possession of most Americans than the television). Heck, when Kathleen was born, roughly 40% of the country still didn’t have washing machines! This is also why Bump makes the counterintuitive seeming, but correct, point that it’s weird to brush aside Boomers as technologically inept when they experienced an unprecedented amount of technological change in their lifetimes.
Putting Kathleen’s life, and that of the Boomers, into such a longview of contextual history, the Baby Boomer’s overwhelming and continuing influence on American society, politics, and culture is fascinating to consider and study. At the top level, consider we’ve had four Baby Boomer presidents in succession: Bill Clinton (two terms), George W. Bush (two terms), Barack Obama (two terms), and Donald Trump (one term). President Biden is actually part of the Silent Generation (those born between 1928-1946). Who knows when we will get our first Millennial president? (Sorry, Generation X.)
Indeed, though, as Bump outlines, the pace of the reorientation in response to the Baby Boomers is hard to imagine — in other words, the sense of morass modern government has, and the way in which it impedes flourishing makes a similar reorientation today unfathomable — because, for example, in one part of California alone, one new school a month was being built in the 1950s and 1960s. Understandably, because schools were going to be the first entities on the “frontlines” of the boom.
An aside, but I also enjoy the throughline of the last three nonfiction audiobooks I’ve listened to, One Billion Americans, Arbitrary Lines, and now, Aftermath, because all three prescribe the same two solutions to pull America out of its morass, one way or another: build more housing, and accept more immigrants. That’s the secret sauce to America’s flourishing!
I’m skeptical of some of Bump’s book, like the talk about class inequality and Millennials being poorer than our parents — and remember, I’m listening to the audio, so I can only take so many notes and the power of recall is what it is, so this a generalization of his arguments — because, in short, I don’t think inequality is a driving force of the problems we see in America, and the evidence doesn’t appear to be there for the latter claim. Nonetheless, the broad strokes of Bump’s thesis that America, en masse, reoriented itself to the Boomers, is in the process of reorienting away from the Boomers, and that reorientation away from the Boomers is creating a racial backlash (not just among Boomers, for the record, I think most of the January 6 rioters, for example, were the oldest among Generation X at 41.8), and of course, much of that is among so-called evangelicals.
Of course, again, the most interesting fact of Bump’s book is that we’re not actually in the “aftermath” quite yet. There are still around 61-ish million Baby Boomers. As they continue to retire and die, how will that shape America, too? That aftermath is still to be written.
If you’re a history, politics, society, culture, and all around nerd, like me, then you’ll be enthralled by Bump’s detailed, thoroughly reported and researched, data-filled walk through history and into the future.
One programming note: I listened to Bump’s book on audio, read quite well by Matthew Berry, and that’s an interesting experience considering what Bump is known for — at least what I know him for following him on Twitter and reading his work — which is numbers and charts. Berry states quite a few times, “In the print edition of this book is a graph depicting …” If I took a drink every time he did … So, I had to use my imagination. I think in parts, it would’ve been helpful for me to see those charts, i.e., have the physical book handy, but nonetheless, I found the book an engaging listen across 12 hours.
Between mid-1946 and mid-1964, the bookends of the Baby Boomer generation, 76 million babies were born. That’s staggering to consider, as Bump outlines, because in 1946, the American population was 141.3 million. To put that into context, that would be like if 180 million babies were born between 2021 and 2040. Imagine what that would do to American society, politics, and culture. Of course, I write this as a member of the Millennial generation (encompassing 1981 to 1996), when 72.2 million babies were born. Obviously, given the passing of time, Millennials are now the largest generation in America.
What undergirds Bump’s analysis of the Baby Boomer generation and how American society, politics, and culture reoriented in response to the influx of babies, and then teens — essentially, the “teen” was itself a product of the Baby Boom — is that America is starting to reorient away from the Baby Boomers because of the aforementioned Millennial generation (and Generation Z after us), and because of the changing demographics of what it means to be an American. To the latter, Bump points to U.S. Census data and projections that made a lot of news after the latest Census in 2020 that white people would be a minority of the population by 2060. There is all kinds of variables to parse, and parse Bump does, about such a projection (like what it even means to be any race or number of races and ethnicities), but he ties that back to the animus that propelled Trump to the White House in 2016, and which also by 2060, brings into the projection considerations whether the U.S. will even be constituted (heh) as a democracy then or a “united states.” (That seems hyperbolic on the face of it, but why assume our form of government will always be the way it is?)
What I love is that they found the first Baby Boomer, and Bump all these years later, also found and talked with her. Kathleen Case-Kirschling, born on January 1, 1946 (which disrupts our neat and tidy generational math, but hey), is considered the first Baby Boomer, and then became, naturally, the first Baby Boomer to file for Social Security retirement in 2007. In her lifetime, the U.S. has changed considerably, from a country with only 8,000 U.S. households having a television when she was born to 45 million households having them toward the tail end of the Baby Boom. Not to say anything, of course, of globalization, the internet, and the iPhone (which took far less time to be in the possession of most Americans than the television). Heck, when Kathleen was born, roughly 40% of the country still didn’t have washing machines! This is also why Bump makes the counterintuitive seeming, but correct, point that it’s weird to brush aside Boomers as technologically inept when they experienced an unprecedented amount of technological change in their lifetimes.
Putting Kathleen’s life, and that of the Boomers, into such a longview of contextual history, the Baby Boomer’s overwhelming and continuing influence on American society, politics, and culture is fascinating to consider and study. At the top level, consider we’ve had four Baby Boomer presidents in succession: Bill Clinton (two terms), George W. Bush (two terms), Barack Obama (two terms), and Donald Trump (one term). President Biden is actually part of the Silent Generation (those born between 1928-1946). Who knows when we will get our first Millennial president? (Sorry, Generation X.)
Indeed, though, as Bump outlines, the pace of the reorientation in response to the Baby Boomers is hard to imagine — in other words, the sense of morass modern government has, and the way in which it impedes flourishing makes a similar reorientation today unfathomable — because, for example, in one part of California alone, one new school a month was being built in the 1950s and 1960s. Understandably, because schools were going to be the first entities on the “frontlines” of the boom.
An aside, but I also enjoy the throughline of the last three nonfiction audiobooks I’ve listened to, One Billion Americans, Arbitrary Lines, and now, Aftermath, because all three prescribe the same two solutions to pull America out of its morass, one way or another: build more housing, and accept more immigrants. That’s the secret sauce to America’s flourishing!
I’m skeptical of some of Bump’s book, like the talk about class inequality and Millennials being poorer than our parents — and remember, I’m listening to the audio, so I can only take so many notes and the power of recall is what it is, so this a generalization of his arguments — because, in short, I don’t think inequality is a driving force of the problems we see in America, and the evidence doesn’t appear to be there for the latter claim. Nonetheless, the broad strokes of Bump’s thesis that America, en masse, reoriented itself to the Boomers, is in the process of reorienting away from the Boomers, and that reorientation away from the Boomers is creating a racial backlash (not just among Boomers, for the record, I think most of the January 6 rioters, for example, were the oldest among Generation X at 41.8), and of course, much of that is among so-called evangelicals.
Of course, again, the most interesting fact of Bump’s book is that we’re not actually in the “aftermath” quite yet. There are still around 61-ish million Baby Boomers. As they continue to retire and die, how will that shape America, too? That aftermath is still to be written.
If you’re a history, politics, society, culture, and all around nerd, like me, then you’ll be enthralled by Bump’s detailed, thoroughly reported and researched, data-filled walk through history and into the future.
October 13, 2023
This book explores some of the transformations that happened in the United States because of the baby boom. I had not really thought about how big a difference in population happened during the boom. They had to build so many new schools. It changed the number of teachers required and now they are a major reason why we do not have enough doctors. The baby boomers are starting to need much more medical care now that they are aging. The economy has changed so much during their lifetime. Young people today can not get by with the same types of jobs as the baby boomers worked and retired from. It really was a unique bump in population growth. It is really interesting to me how the generation before the baby boomers, the silent generation, and the generation after the baby boomers, generation X, are mostly ignored. People skip gen X and talk about millennials.
Overall, I found the book informative. I thought the end kind of dragged on a bit, but I am glad I read it.
Overall, I found the book informative. I thought the end kind of dragged on a bit, but I am glad I read it.
October 5, 2022
This is a thought provoking and entertaining look at how the Boomer generation's influence has changed, where it is now, and where it might be in the future. Lots of charts/graphs with clear explanations are included.
Recommended for those that enjoy reading about generations, social issues, and forecasting the future.
Many thanks to Penguin/Viking and NetGalley for a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.
Recommended for those that enjoy reading about generations, social issues, and forecasting the future.
Many thanks to Penguin/Viking and NetGalley for a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.
September 9, 2023
This is exactly the type of demographic data mining book you’d expect someone who writes for the WaPost and formerly wrote for the Atlantic to write. TL/DR version of the review? It’s a mix of Captain obvious and bad framing.
I just couldn’t give it even a third star, and half the three star reviews here sounded too polite to Bump. In fact, I decided to create a new shelf, "meh," for something above 'bs-pablium," but .. meh!
Let’s get more into the bad framing part.
There are numerous demographic problems with this book, as shown by the stats Bump himself cites.
First, the “boom” didn’t start in 1946. From the Depression lows, they picked up all during WWII, even with men in uniform overseas. Second, the boom didn’t end in 1964. It peaked in 1957.
Second, what this ties to? Generations are defined, really, sociologically, not demographically. With the “boomers,” the start point is best set at 1942, maybe 1941. With that, no boomer remembers WWII.
And, it ends earlier than 1964. People like me, and I’ve had friends agree, are neither Boomers nor Gen Xers. Born 1961-68, we’re a mini-generation. The 70s kids or whatever. All of us are too young to remember JFK, but even the youngest of us were starting junior high when Reagan became president. Junior high age, per Piaget, is when abstract reasoning kicks in, so potentially, we were able to avoid becoming Alex Keatons, even while being bombarded with Reaganism.
This mini-generation could start in 1960, but I set it at 1961 for one reason in US politics. At 1961, Obama is a Boomer. At 1960, he’s in my mini-generation, and I don’t see that. On the flip side, with the earlier start, Biden is Boomer, too.
Now, later divisions? Let’s remember that generations are sociological cohorts, a word I don’t think Bump even uses. Gen X? Ends in 1986. Since the Soviet Union didn’t implode until 1991, that means even the youngest Xer has some influence of the Cold War.
I then posit another mini-generation. Millennials don’t start until 1996 or 1997. No Millennial, in my split, in the US, knows a world before 9/11, before the War on Terror, before the War on American civil liberties, etc. This is a good cutoff in another way, because Internet 2.0 was rising then, and at least in urban areas, even the youngest Millennials don’t know a pre-broadband internet.
So, what do we call the mini-generation between Xers and Millennials? Clinton kids? Back to the Future?
Beyond that, as cohorts, there’s a “demarcation problem” with generational defining and boundaries, per old friend Massimo Pigliucci. Bump doesn’t wrestle with that, either.
I checked this book out curious as to what level of insight (or non-insight; Bump strikes me as a typical Beltway pundit at his Peter Principle level and he blocked an old Twitter account of mine) might provide, and he started on a “good” note.
Anyway, all the issues above, and his accepting Census Bureau definitions as set in stone make this book of limited value.
Then, we get to a page of graphs which purports (that’s the word) to look at increasing illiberality in a number of global political parties. Supposedly the Democratic Party has zero increase. I don’t care if that came from the University of Gothenberg, Sweden. It would still be news inside the party to Berners, and even more, outside the party, to the Green Party and independent lefists. But, see the top paragraph; Bump (on a log) passes this on with a straight, and uncritical, face.
That’s when I stopped reading.
And poor Phil doesn’t have a Wiki page. But, other than Peter Principling, he is a definite Xer, born in 1975.
I just couldn’t give it even a third star, and half the three star reviews here sounded too polite to Bump. In fact, I decided to create a new shelf, "meh," for something above 'bs-pablium," but .. meh!
Let’s get more into the bad framing part.
There are numerous demographic problems with this book, as shown by the stats Bump himself cites.
First, the “boom” didn’t start in 1946. From the Depression lows, they picked up all during WWII, even with men in uniform overseas. Second, the boom didn’t end in 1964. It peaked in 1957.
Second, what this ties to? Generations are defined, really, sociologically, not demographically. With the “boomers,” the start point is best set at 1942, maybe 1941. With that, no boomer remembers WWII.
And, it ends earlier than 1964. People like me, and I’ve had friends agree, are neither Boomers nor Gen Xers. Born 1961-68, we’re a mini-generation. The 70s kids or whatever. All of us are too young to remember JFK, but even the youngest of us were starting junior high when Reagan became president. Junior high age, per Piaget, is when abstract reasoning kicks in, so potentially, we were able to avoid becoming Alex Keatons, even while being bombarded with Reaganism.
This mini-generation could start in 1960, but I set it at 1961 for one reason in US politics. At 1961, Obama is a Boomer. At 1960, he’s in my mini-generation, and I don’t see that. On the flip side, with the earlier start, Biden is Boomer, too.
Now, later divisions? Let’s remember that generations are sociological cohorts, a word I don’t think Bump even uses. Gen X? Ends in 1986. Since the Soviet Union didn’t implode until 1991, that means even the youngest Xer has some influence of the Cold War.
I then posit another mini-generation. Millennials don’t start until 1996 or 1997. No Millennial, in my split, in the US, knows a world before 9/11, before the War on Terror, before the War on American civil liberties, etc. This is a good cutoff in another way, because Internet 2.0 was rising then, and at least in urban areas, even the youngest Millennials don’t know a pre-broadband internet.
So, what do we call the mini-generation between Xers and Millennials? Clinton kids? Back to the Future?
Beyond that, as cohorts, there’s a “demarcation problem” with generational defining and boundaries, per old friend Massimo Pigliucci. Bump doesn’t wrestle with that, either.
I checked this book out curious as to what level of insight (or non-insight; Bump strikes me as a typical Beltway pundit at his Peter Principle level and he blocked an old Twitter account of mine) might provide, and he started on a “good” note.
Anyway, all the issues above, and his accepting Census Bureau definitions as set in stone make this book of limited value.
Then, we get to a page of graphs which purports (that’s the word) to look at increasing illiberality in a number of global political parties. Supposedly the Democratic Party has zero increase. I don’t care if that came from the University of Gothenberg, Sweden. It would still be news inside the party to Berners, and even more, outside the party, to the Green Party and independent lefists. But, see the top paragraph; Bump (on a log) passes this on with a straight, and uncritical, face.
That’s when I stopped reading.
And poor Phil doesn’t have a Wiki page. But, other than Peter Principling, he is a definite Xer, born in 1975.
December 12, 2023
Bump and I are same age Gen-Xers, so I appreciate how his stated goal is to analysze how the rest of his and my life likely to evolve, as the Boomers tremendous numbers continue to fade. Since I'm curious mostly about the implications on my near term future, I find the early historical sections tedious. And (spoiler) I end up disappointed.
Bump loves charts and graphs, and he also loves explaining them. A wide variety of innovative and sometimes complex charts. Be prepared😉
Of course all Americans are aware of the baby boomer generation concept, but the magnitude of the impact on the 1950s and 1960s was far beyond what I'd imagined. In the 19 years of the boom, a baby was born for every two people alive in 1945. That was completely unprecedented in American life, especially for native born babies. Bump doesn't mention it, but it makes me think of the current demographics of Nigeria/Africa or India.
To it sounds like Bump is praising boomers for their exceptionalism, in the first third and on the jacket cover blurb. Perhaps he’d like this large market to buy a book about itself, and read farther than the first third. They’ll be shocked what conservative media has wrought through them.
“88% of Trumps voters on 2016 were white”. (p125) and yeah over 50 pages Bump conclusively proves that white reactionary fear of demographic change, and loss of social privilege, is what the boomers are doing.
“An enormous part of the tension and frustration that exists among wide Republicans about changing demography might be a function of having the salient of race elevated and then misunderstood.” (p132) FOR crass partisan gain BY the right wing media, Bump failed to explicitly add. Well he’s a mainstream journalist, so he won’t poop in his own house, nor make his audience feel victimized by their own media choices.
In 2017, 58% of republicans answered Pew polling that colleges had a negative effect on America. .. i will cynically guess that these mostly-religious mostly-boomers will remain uneducated, as much as they will remain white.
Trump is almost exactly the older boomer, and boomer men are the only demographic with “warm feelings” for him. (p144). I do feel slightly physically nausiated now, as I turn to the second half of the book, "aftermath" about the future, which I have been eagerly anticipating.
The discussion on the arbitrariness of racial categorizations around page 255 indicates that the national majority-minority transition, only helps the Democrats to the extent that people identify away from the dominant white group. And p259 notes that Trumpers who are most triggered by fear of the transition are ironically most likely to exclude mixed race and darker skin or hispanic people from white status.
The leaves me feeling unsatisfied, even though bump explicitly recognizes that liberals are more likely to be reading this book. He predicts very little, and even explores Florida as a possible future model for America. Given how much far right money is plowed into propaganda, how inflexible partisan identity has proven to be, and how life expectancy grows, i should view this as a rational cautionary warning. And maybe that’s how I’ll later remember it, but for now I’m kind of left very little to feel happy about.
Bump loves charts and graphs, and he also loves explaining them. A wide variety of innovative and sometimes complex charts. Be prepared😉
Of course all Americans are aware of the baby boomer generation concept, but the magnitude of the impact on the 1950s and 1960s was far beyond what I'd imagined. In the 19 years of the boom, a baby was born for every two people alive in 1945. That was completely unprecedented in American life, especially for native born babies. Bump doesn't mention it, but it makes me think of the current demographics of Nigeria/Africa or India.
To it sounds like Bump is praising boomers for their exceptionalism, in the first third and on the jacket cover blurb. Perhaps he’d like this large market to buy a book about itself, and read farther than the first third. They’ll be shocked what conservative media has wrought through them.
“88% of Trumps voters on 2016 were white”. (p125) and yeah over 50 pages Bump conclusively proves that white reactionary fear of demographic change, and loss of social privilege, is what the boomers are doing.
“An enormous part of the tension and frustration that exists among wide Republicans about changing demography might be a function of having the salient of race elevated and then misunderstood.” (p132) FOR crass partisan gain BY the right wing media, Bump failed to explicitly add. Well he’s a mainstream journalist, so he won’t poop in his own house, nor make his audience feel victimized by their own media choices.
In 2017, 58% of republicans answered Pew polling that colleges had a negative effect on America. .. i will cynically guess that these mostly-religious mostly-boomers will remain uneducated, as much as they will remain white.
Trump is almost exactly the older boomer, and boomer men are the only demographic with “warm feelings” for him. (p144). I do feel slightly physically nausiated now, as I turn to the second half of the book, "aftermath" about the future, which I have been eagerly anticipating.
The discussion on the arbitrariness of racial categorizations around page 255 indicates that the national majority-minority transition, only helps the Democrats to the extent that people identify away from the dominant white group. And p259 notes that Trumpers who are most triggered by fear of the transition are ironically most likely to exclude mixed race and darker skin or hispanic people from white status.
The leaves me feeling unsatisfied, even though bump explicitly recognizes that liberals are more likely to be reading this book. He predicts very little, and even explores Florida as a possible future model for America. Given how much far right money is plowed into propaganda, how inflexible partisan identity has proven to be, and how life expectancy grows, i should view this as a rational cautionary warning. And maybe that’s how I’ll later remember it, but for now I’m kind of left very little to feel happy about.
May 16, 2023
Philip Bump presents and interprets generational data on a wide range of demographics and personal preferences. While the subtitle regarding the future is as clouded as the future itself, there is data regarding the variables that may have the biggest impact.
Most who select this book, like me, will not read every page or chapter, but will look at all the graphs and read selectively.
The graphs can be amazing. Even knowing the trends it is jarring to see how pronounced these trends are, for instance: the decline in organized religion, the alignment of partisan identification by age and race, the declining birth rate etc.
The graphs can be surprising when you see the rise in college debt held by those over 50 (i.e. parents) now accelerating to almost 25%, or the burst in schools named for Confederate leaders in the 1950’s and 60’s.
There is interesting information. For instance, Boomer Presidents Clinton, GW Bush, were all born within 3 months of each other. It is mentioned in the discussion of Boomer power (with Obama born at the Boomer’s tail end) but I would like to see it discussed by Malcom Gladwell with the Outliers: The Story of Success perspective.
Some of the things that were new to me:
• Millennials have earned significantly more degrees than Boomers.
• The p. 237 chart of those arrested for January 6 has a surprising number of women, who like the men, arrested are primarily ages 30-50.
• Sandwiched between the immigration bills of the 1920s and 1980s, Boomers grew up in the “whitest” America ever.
Only once was Covid mentioned, since most data is not in. My recent experience predicts it will be significant. I have been exploring nursing homes for a loved one. Homes that previously had waiting lists now have open beds. One with 130 beds said that, since Covid, they have only 90 filled. I live in a state with one of the lowest (if not the lowest) Covid rates in the nation.
For the future Bump shows a lot of political demographics since he notes how so much depends on the upcoming elections. There are a lot of charts showing the growing diversity and due to the age difference of the white and nonwhite population, the non-white population is projected to overtake the white population. There is some discussion of the Villages, the large Florida retirement community, which is now planning for families.
Boomer power and resources (how much of each is murky) will go somewhere, but regarding this, a provocative subchapter title “The Past May Not Be Prologue” applies.
The many charts are clear and pertinent to the topic making this is a good reference book with the caveat that data can get old fast, but it definitely worth your while if you are interested in this topic.
Most who select this book, like me, will not read every page or chapter, but will look at all the graphs and read selectively.
The graphs can be amazing. Even knowing the trends it is jarring to see how pronounced these trends are, for instance: the decline in organized religion, the alignment of partisan identification by age and race, the declining birth rate etc.
The graphs can be surprising when you see the rise in college debt held by those over 50 (i.e. parents) now accelerating to almost 25%, or the burst in schools named for Confederate leaders in the 1950’s and 60’s.
There is interesting information. For instance, Boomer Presidents Clinton, GW Bush, were all born within 3 months of each other. It is mentioned in the discussion of Boomer power (with Obama born at the Boomer’s tail end) but I would like to see it discussed by Malcom Gladwell with the Outliers: The Story of Success perspective.
Some of the things that were new to me:
• Millennials have earned significantly more degrees than Boomers.
• The p. 237 chart of those arrested for January 6 has a surprising number of women, who like the men, arrested are primarily ages 30-50.
• Sandwiched between the immigration bills of the 1920s and 1980s, Boomers grew up in the “whitest” America ever.
Only once was Covid mentioned, since most data is not in. My recent experience predicts it will be significant. I have been exploring nursing homes for a loved one. Homes that previously had waiting lists now have open beds. One with 130 beds said that, since Covid, they have only 90 filled. I live in a state with one of the lowest (if not the lowest) Covid rates in the nation.
For the future Bump shows a lot of political demographics since he notes how so much depends on the upcoming elections. There are a lot of charts showing the growing diversity and due to the age difference of the white and nonwhite population, the non-white population is projected to overtake the white population. There is some discussion of the Villages, the large Florida retirement community, which is now planning for families.
Boomer power and resources (how much of each is murky) will go somewhere, but regarding this, a provocative subchapter title “The Past May Not Be Prologue” applies.
The many charts are clear and pertinent to the topic making this is a good reference book with the caveat that data can get old fast, but it definitely worth your while if you are interested in this topic.
July 14, 2023
I feel churlish giving this book less than five stars. The author worked SO hard. He gathered data from reliable sources, interviewed experts, synthesized what he learned. He did everything he should have done.
I had this feeling: back when I was a student, I would research a topic, write my paper, submit it by the deadline. And then, having completed the project, I felt I finally knew enough to write a really GOOD paper.
That was my feeling about this book. That the author should have read his book, then rewritten it, shortening some sections (such as the one on Census Bureau racial classifications) and expanding or revising others. For example: although each chart contains a section called “How to read this chart” the more useful section, which was not included, would have read “What to learn from this chart.”
That said, there is a lot of good stuff here.
1
—
I did not realize that we baby boomers were unique in maturing during a period of reduced immigration. The author is correct: I knew very few people who were immigrants themselves or children of immigrants.
2
—
The author is also correct (though he could have emphasized this much more than he did) that we grew up when de facto and de jure segregation ensured schools that were either predominantly white or black. Both experiences created a generation that is more parochial than the ones that followed.
3
—
Baby boomers have, as a group, less education than the generations that followed. The author could have expanded a bit more on why this is and what it means. My guesses: children of blue collar workers assumed college wasn’t necessary. After all, dad gave them a middle class life by working for fifty years at GM. But that assumption turned out to be wrong, engendering bitterness that Trump cleverly worked to his advantage.
As I say, these are my guesses. The author could have explored this theory (or ANY relevant theory) either validating or invalidating.
4
—
The author quotes Robert Putnam in differentiating between generational characteristics and life stage characteristics. This is a useful distinction: a generational characteristic is more or less permanent (“baby boomers expect attention from marketers”), a life stage characteristic (“don’t trust anyone over 30”) changes.
5
—
Not specific to baby boomers but good to know: people form their political values between the ages of 14 to 24. Values could change somewhat after the mid-20s, but probably not by much.
I REALLY wish the author had investigated this a lot more. Two events shaped baby boomer consciousness: Kennedy’s assassination and the Vietnam War. What did these events do to us? Mr Bump, I’m waiting.
6
—
Finally, there’s one thing that Mr Bump, a Gen X guy, absolutely does not get: it was just a whole lot of fun to be a baby boom kid.
But maybe he suspects: that would account for his mildly resentful attitude.
I had this feeling: back when I was a student, I would research a topic, write my paper, submit it by the deadline. And then, having completed the project, I felt I finally knew enough to write a really GOOD paper.
That was my feeling about this book. That the author should have read his book, then rewritten it, shortening some sections (such as the one on Census Bureau racial classifications) and expanding or revising others. For example: although each chart contains a section called “How to read this chart” the more useful section, which was not included, would have read “What to learn from this chart.”
That said, there is a lot of good stuff here.
1
—
I did not realize that we baby boomers were unique in maturing during a period of reduced immigration. The author is correct: I knew very few people who were immigrants themselves or children of immigrants.
2
—
The author is also correct (though he could have emphasized this much more than he did) that we grew up when de facto and de jure segregation ensured schools that were either predominantly white or black. Both experiences created a generation that is more parochial than the ones that followed.
3
—
Baby boomers have, as a group, less education than the generations that followed. The author could have expanded a bit more on why this is and what it means. My guesses: children of blue collar workers assumed college wasn’t necessary. After all, dad gave them a middle class life by working for fifty years at GM. But that assumption turned out to be wrong, engendering bitterness that Trump cleverly worked to his advantage.
As I say, these are my guesses. The author could have explored this theory (or ANY relevant theory) either validating or invalidating.
4
—
The author quotes Robert Putnam in differentiating between generational characteristics and life stage characteristics. This is a useful distinction: a generational characteristic is more or less permanent (“baby boomers expect attention from marketers”), a life stage characteristic (“don’t trust anyone over 30”) changes.
5
—
Not specific to baby boomers but good to know: people form their political values between the ages of 14 to 24. Values could change somewhat after the mid-20s, but probably not by much.
I REALLY wish the author had investigated this a lot more. Two events shaped baby boomer consciousness: Kennedy’s assassination and the Vietnam War. What did these events do to us? Mr Bump, I’m waiting.
6
—
Finally, there’s one thing that Mr Bump, a Gen X guy, absolutely does not get: it was just a whole lot of fun to be a baby boom kid.
But maybe he suspects: that would account for his mildly resentful attitude.
July 12, 2023
We Can’t Stop Talking About You, Boomer
Philip Bump reminds us about, or perhaps makes us awake, of this fact: When the Baby Boom began in 1946 there were 140 million Americans. When the last Boomer dropped onto the scene in 1965, there were 76 million born, increasing the1946 population by more than 50%. Something that big certainly must have had an impact, an impact that has been a continuum of change still with us, and destined to be with us until the last Boomer exits around 2060, give or take a few years.
As Boomers know, the really big thing is that they have been the center of attention every year that they have been alive. At least until recently, because the Millennials have now overtaken the Boomers as a percentage of the U. S. population, about 22% vs. 21%.
Boomers have effected every aspect of American life, education, the economy, and politics. Bump delineates how both in text and in an abundance of charts (to be expected, as he writes the Washington Post newsletter “How to Read This Chart”). He reveals a lot about Boomers, but ultimately leaves readers wondering what does all this mean for the future. So, if crystal ball reading the future, even the immediate between now and 2060 is why you might read this book, be forewarned that you will be as befuddled as you may now be.
Anyway, though, you may want to read the book for insights into this most disruptive generation. For instance, you might already know that Boomers are a very white group, but why? Because of America’s restrictive Immigration Act of 1924 that set quotas essentially favoring northern Europeans and completely barring all Asians. White, however, has proven to be a fluid racial concept. For example, in the early part of the 20th century, Italians and Greeks weren’t considered white, but later became white once assimilated. Bump asks will this happen to Hispanics. Will being white in 2060 be different from what it is now?
How about American politics, will what passes for conservative today be the same as Millennials gain dominance? Perhaps not, as conservatives today certainly are different from the conservatives of the past. And speaking of the Millennials, how happy will they be supporting the large number of retiring and quickly aging Boomers putting more strain on medical care, housing, and the like?
Lots of questions, but a lot of answers. Plenty to speculate about. Much unsettling uncertainty to occupy our thoughts.
Mentioned above, Bump writes “How to Read This Chart.” And that really is the biggest issue with this book: tons of charts, many of which are overly complicated and constantly interrupting the narrative. Perhaps things would be clearer if Bump had relegated some, maybe most, of the charts to an appendix. As they are now, they make for a bumpy go.
Philip Bump reminds us about, or perhaps makes us awake, of this fact: When the Baby Boom began in 1946 there were 140 million Americans. When the last Boomer dropped onto the scene in 1965, there were 76 million born, increasing the1946 population by more than 50%. Something that big certainly must have had an impact, an impact that has been a continuum of change still with us, and destined to be with us until the last Boomer exits around 2060, give or take a few years.
As Boomers know, the really big thing is that they have been the center of attention every year that they have been alive. At least until recently, because the Millennials have now overtaken the Boomers as a percentage of the U. S. population, about 22% vs. 21%.
Boomers have effected every aspect of American life, education, the economy, and politics. Bump delineates how both in text and in an abundance of charts (to be expected, as he writes the Washington Post newsletter “How to Read This Chart”). He reveals a lot about Boomers, but ultimately leaves readers wondering what does all this mean for the future. So, if crystal ball reading the future, even the immediate between now and 2060 is why you might read this book, be forewarned that you will be as befuddled as you may now be.
Anyway, though, you may want to read the book for insights into this most disruptive generation. For instance, you might already know that Boomers are a very white group, but why? Because of America’s restrictive Immigration Act of 1924 that set quotas essentially favoring northern Europeans and completely barring all Asians. White, however, has proven to be a fluid racial concept. For example, in the early part of the 20th century, Italians and Greeks weren’t considered white, but later became white once assimilated. Bump asks will this happen to Hispanics. Will being white in 2060 be different from what it is now?
How about American politics, will what passes for conservative today be the same as Millennials gain dominance? Perhaps not, as conservatives today certainly are different from the conservatives of the past. And speaking of the Millennials, how happy will they be supporting the large number of retiring and quickly aging Boomers putting more strain on medical care, housing, and the like?
Lots of questions, but a lot of answers. Plenty to speculate about. Much unsettling uncertainty to occupy our thoughts.
Mentioned above, Bump writes “How to Read This Chart.” And that really is the biggest issue with this book: tons of charts, many of which are overly complicated and constantly interrupting the narrative. Perhaps things would be clearer if Bump had relegated some, maybe most, of the charts to an appendix. As they are now, they make for a bumpy go.
May 19, 2023
The Aftermath: The Last Days of the Baby Boom and the Future of Power in America, Philip Bump, 2023, 401 pages, Dewey 305.2, ISBN 9780593489697. Bump is a Washington Post columnist. He's talking through his hat.
His thesis is that the 86 million Americans born before 1965 are now unimportant. p. xiii. Contrarily, his graph on p. 17 shows the number of boomer-aged Americans is only slightly below its maximum.
Total:
https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=...
Fraction:
https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=...
Data:
https://data.census.gov/table?q=U.s.+...
He admits that the book is rife with generalizations, and with the evidence that contradicts them. True. p. xii.
There's a nice plot of U.S. births per year, showing that the boom was a matter of degree. The highest boom years were a bit above 4 million births per year; the pre-Depression and 1970s baselines were close to 3 million per year:
1909 2.7 million
1921 3.1 million highest prewar
1933 2.3 million, lowest since before 1909
1943 3.1 million, highest yet
1946 3.4 million official first boom year
1957 4.3 million highest ever
1964 4.0 million official last boom year
1965 3.8 million official first nonboom year
1972 3.3 million first below 1946 level
1973 3.1 million lowest, 1946-1980
1980 3.6 million
p. 7. CDC data:
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/statab/...
ERRATA:
He likens 4 million births per year in the 1950s to "as if 10 million per year were being born now," in proportion to population. To the contrary, to provide the land and food those 4 million kids needed was a burden due to their absolute numbers, not to their fraction of the population. He goes on to wonder what would happen if we suddenly needed three times the schools we now need. That never happened in the Baby Boom. We had 3.1 million babies in 1921; 3.4 million in 1946. pp. ix-x.
"The downward shift of the population's center of gravity …" p. xii. No, the population is aging:
The U.S. median age in 2021 was 38.8, and rising by 1 year per 6 years elapsed. In 1960, the U.S. median age was 29.5.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/2...
He starts with an untruth: there "aren't many" Americans who remember a time before the 1946 official beginning of the Baby Boom (p. ix). There are over 12 million: 3.7%, not 2%, of the population.
Census:
https://data.census.gov/table?q=U.s.+...
Arithmetic:
https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=...
His thesis is that the 86 million Americans born before 1965 are now unimportant. p. xiii. Contrarily, his graph on p. 17 shows the number of boomer-aged Americans is only slightly below its maximum.
Total:
https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=...
Fraction:
https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=...
Data:
https://data.census.gov/table?q=U.s.+...
He admits that the book is rife with generalizations, and with the evidence that contradicts them. True. p. xii.
There's a nice plot of U.S. births per year, showing that the boom was a matter of degree. The highest boom years were a bit above 4 million births per year; the pre-Depression and 1970s baselines were close to 3 million per year:
1909 2.7 million
1921 3.1 million highest prewar
1933 2.3 million, lowest since before 1909
1943 3.1 million, highest yet
1946 3.4 million official first boom year
1957 4.3 million highest ever
1964 4.0 million official last boom year
1965 3.8 million official first nonboom year
1972 3.3 million first below 1946 level
1973 3.1 million lowest, 1946-1980
1980 3.6 million
p. 7. CDC data:
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/statab/...
ERRATA:
He likens 4 million births per year in the 1950s to "as if 10 million per year were being born now," in proportion to population. To the contrary, to provide the land and food those 4 million kids needed was a burden due to their absolute numbers, not to their fraction of the population. He goes on to wonder what would happen if we suddenly needed three times the schools we now need. That never happened in the Baby Boom. We had 3.1 million babies in 1921; 3.4 million in 1946. pp. ix-x.
"The downward shift of the population's center of gravity …" p. xii. No, the population is aging:
The U.S. median age in 2021 was 38.8, and rising by 1 year per 6 years elapsed. In 1960, the U.S. median age was 29.5.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/2...
He starts with an untruth: there "aren't many" Americans who remember a time before the 1946 official beginning of the Baby Boom (p. ix). There are over 12 million: 3.7%, not 2%, of the population.
Census:
https://data.census.gov/table?q=U.s.+...
Arithmetic:
https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=...
August 8, 2023
There is a reasonable case to be made that an entire graduate-level course could be spent analyzing the information within Philip Bump's "The Aftermath". It is absolutely chock full of numbers, suppositions, and analysis centering on the Baby Boom generation and what American life will look like as those individuals "age out" of being the prime movers-and-shakers of society. In terms of pure information, "Aftermath" is 5-stars all the way.
The issue, of course, is that not everyone will appreciate the density of Bump's material in such a deep way. Whatever the opposite of a "beach read" is may be identified here.
Fortunately, Bump's writing is strong enough that a sort of "glazing" approach can be taken here and leave the reader still relatively satisfied. That is exactly the approach I--harboring more of an amateur interest in the topic--took in reading the tome and still gleaned quite a bit of useful and interesting information. Instead of poring over the numerous graphs or trying to parse out every number/calculation, I sort of skimmed along looking for the salient points--of which I found quite a few (certainly enough to keep plunging forward).
So, in my final reckoning I can give "The Aftermath" 3/5 stars (probably 3.5 if able). It is an absolute treasure-trove of information on the Baby Boom set--but one that would take weeks to truly understand. Skimming won't internalize all of that, to be sure, but at very least it is a strategy to render the material readable and salient.
The issue, of course, is that not everyone will appreciate the density of Bump's material in such a deep way. Whatever the opposite of a "beach read" is may be identified here.
Fortunately, Bump's writing is strong enough that a sort of "glazing" approach can be taken here and leave the reader still relatively satisfied. That is exactly the approach I--harboring more of an amateur interest in the topic--took in reading the tome and still gleaned quite a bit of useful and interesting information. Instead of poring over the numerous graphs or trying to parse out every number/calculation, I sort of skimmed along looking for the salient points--of which I found quite a few (certainly enough to keep plunging forward).
So, in my final reckoning I can give "The Aftermath" 3/5 stars (probably 3.5 if able). It is an absolute treasure-trove of information on the Baby Boom set--but one that would take weeks to truly understand. Skimming won't internalize all of that, to be sure, but at very least it is a strategy to render the material readable and salient.
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