David Brooks

Op-Ed Columnist for The New York Times and Political Commentator

Topic: "The Landscape of American Politics"

David Brooks spoke Tuesday,
October 12, 2004

David Brooks' goal as a commentator is to make conservatism attractive to both the East and West Coasts. He has a gift for bringing audiences face to face with the spirit of our times with humor, insight and quiet passion. He is a keen observer of the American way of life and a savvy analyst of present-day politics and foreign affairs. For a long time a frequent contributor to The New York Times , he now writes a regular bi-weekly op-ed column for the newspaper. His Saturday column aims for humor, social commentary and the ‘lighter' side of the news; the Tuesday column is harder and more political. He also is a regular analyst on “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.”

In addition to his political analysis, Mr. Brooks writes what he calls “comic sociology,” descriptions of how we live that are as witty and entertaining as they are revealing and insightful. His next book, titled On Paradise Drive , about suburban life in America, is due in May of 2004. His first book, BoBos In Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There , (Simon & Schuster; 2000, and a New York Times bestseller), is an often hilarious description of today's upper class—the bourgeois bohemians: BoBos—whose hybrid lifestyle combines the hippie values of bohemian counterculture with a solid commitment to bourgeois capitalist enterprise.

Brooks spent nine years with the Wall Street Journal as op-ed editor, Middle-Eastern, Russian, European and South Africa correspondent, and editor of the book review. His work has appeared in the Washington Post , the New York Times , The New Yorker , Public Interest , Smart Money , The New Republic, U.S. News and World Report, Commentary, The National Interest , and the National Review , among others, and on National Public Radio.

[Davidson Distinguished Lecture Series]