We probably all remember the horror that was the white nationalist torch rally at the University of Virginia in 2017.
The cooked-up fear of the far right in America is that there is somehow a conspiracy to overturn white dominance in America (that’s the “us” they’re chanting about) as they face the prospect of a multiracial society. Philip Bump’s 2021 book Aftermath: The Last Days of the Baby Boom and the Future of Power in America informs its readers that the folks in Charlottesville are late to the party. An America in which whites are no longer dominant – a “majority-minority” America -- is not some distant eventuality that can somehow be forestalled or even prevented; it is an immediate certainty that is inevitable within 20 years. The demographic changes that the marchers fear have already happened over the past century.
People have been writing about the economic/social/political impact of the Baby Boom for decades. The first book that I encountered was called The Pig in the Python, and it introduced the image of the baby boom as the large mass that moves gradually through the python, changing the shape of the snake along the way. I don’t like to think about what happens at the end of the python, but there we are. This is a useful image.
I need to confess – I am currently listening to the audio version of Bump’s book and I’m not finished with it. But his message is clear in the first parts of the book. I’ll finish it within a week or so (it depends on the weather. I listen to audiobooks when I take long walks or car trips.). Here are some things I’ve learned already from this book.
First, you should know that Bump is a data nerd. He writes a newsletter for The Washington Post called How To Read This Chart. I subscribe to it and read it regularly. The book’s publisher, Penguin Books, says this about Bump and his book:
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 healthcare 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.
Because I haven’t read the entire book, I turned to some book reviews to help me make sense of Bump’s analysis. This review (from “Jennifer” at Goodreads) captured the essence of what I’ve listened to so far and gives a pretty good idea of what the book is all about. Here’s what Jennifer had to say:
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.
In this video, PBS news anchor Geoff Bennet interviews Bump about his book. This video is only seven minutes long, but in it Bump enunciates some of the key findings from his analysis. It’s worth a listen.
As I’ve been listening to this book, I’ve realized I haven’t really thought very deeply about how the demographics of the United States are changing. This may be because I don’t hang my identity on my skin color, so I’m not threatened by the existence or the prominence of people with more melanin than me. One thing I’m enjoying about this book is that Bump reveals and then queries his own assumptions, so readers/listeners get to share in his thought processes as he discovers that things are not what he thought they were.
The print edition of the book includes 128 charts and graphs, and I was pleased to discover that my purchase of the audio book allowed me to download the PDFs of the charts so I can look at them – not while I’m walking or driving, but later on. Every chart includes an explainer at the bottom, labeled “How To Read This Chart.” These explainers are useful because some of the charts are complex.
Here’s one of his charts:
Anyhoo.
This book is worth your time and attention.
I just must include this in my Audible account. Thanks. I still think there's value in my take on the Boomers and will be delighted to hear exactly how his ideas align with my interest in the subject.
Excellent essay and great comments. Thanks.