Agent Provocateur

DAVID BROOKS is one of my favorite people in Washington. It is something of a cliché to preface all criticism of Brooks with a declaration of this sort, but that doesn’t make it any less true. My admiration for Brooks extends so far that I am willing to overlook the possibility that he is, in fact, a French sleeper agent.

Let us review some of the evidence. In his path-breaking book Bobos in Paradise (2000), he described a wonderful transformation in which Americans had turned a blind eye to longstanding cultural disputes and embraced a fairly secular, apolitical ethos that emphasized aesthetics, design, and food as the lodestars of a fulfilled life. Tellingly, Brooks-who has spent time in France’s Mini-Me, Belgium-invoked two thoroughly French concepts to describe these people: “Bourgeois Bohemians.”

About the Author

Jonah Goldberg

Jonah Goldberg is a National Review contributing editor.

Featured Tags

Manage following

David Brooks

Barack Obama

DAVID BROOKS is one of my favorite people in Washington. It is something of a cliché to preface all criticism of Brooks with a declaration of this sort, but that doesn’t make it any less true. My admiration for Brooks extends so far that I am willing to overlook the possibility that he is, in fact, a French sleeper agent.

Let us review some of the evidence. In his path-breaking book Bobos in Paradise (2000), he described a wonderful transformation in which Americans had turned a blind eye to longstanding cultural disputes and embraced a fairly secular, apolitical ethos that emphasized aesthetics, design, and food as the lodestars of a fulfilled life. Tellingly, Brooks-who has spent time in France’s Mini-Me, Belgium-invoked two thoroughly French concepts to describe these people: “Bourgeois Bohemians.”