Kids These Days: Human Capital and the Making of Millennials - Malcolm Harris

Written by Malcolm Harris
Read by Will Collyer
Format: M4B
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Named one of Fall 2017’s most anticipated books by New York magazine, Publishers Weekly, Nylon, and LitHub

Everyone knows “what’s wrong with millennials”. Glenn Beck says we’ve been ruined by “participation trophies”. Simon Sinek says we have low self-esteem. An Australian millionaire says millennials could all afford homes if we’d just give up avocado toast. Thanks, millionaire.

This millennial is here to prove them all wrong.

“The best, most comprehensive work of social and economic analysis about our benighted generation.” (Tony Tulathimutte, author of Private Citizens)

“The kind of brilliantly simple idea that instantly clarifies an entire area of culture.”(William Deresiewicz, author of Excellent Sheep)

Millennials have been stereotyped as lazy, entitled, narcissistic, and immature. We’ve gotten so used to sloppy generational analysis filled with dumb clichés about young people that we’ve lost sight of what really unites millennials. Namely:

We are the most educated and hardworking generation in American history.
We poured historic and insane amounts of time and money into preparing ourselves for the 21st century labor market.
We have been taught to consider working for free (homework, internships) a privilege for our own benefit.
We are poorer, more medicated, and more precariously employed than our parents, grandparents, even our great-grandparents, with less of a social safety net to boot.

Kids These Days is about why. In brilliant, crackling prose, early Wall Street occupier Malcolm Harris gets mercilessly real about our maligned birth cohort. Examining trends like runaway student debt, the rise of the intern, mass incarceration, social media, and more, Harris gives us a portrait of what it means to be young in America today that will wake you up and piss you off.

Millennials were the first generation raised explicitly as investments, Harris argues, and in Kids These Days, he dares us to confront and take charge of the consequences now that we are grown up.
©2017 Malcolm Harris (P)2017 Hachette Audio

Critic Reviews
“This fiercely smart book is not just another ‘millennial skilled chain restaurants’ kind of thing. Instead, Harris dives deep into the ways that the millennial generation has been shaped by the capitalist economic forces at work now in America…. It’s a must read for anyone who cares about the future of our society.” (Nylon)
“It is difficult to believe nobody has written this book before, although it is fortunate that Harris - who manages to be quick and often funny without sacrificing rigor - is the author who ultimately took up the task. In fewer than three hundred pages, he surveys the myriad hot takes on millennials - they’re lazy, they’re entitled, they’re narcissists who buy avocado toast instead of homes, slacking on Snapchat at their unpaid internships - and asks, ‘Why?’” (Bookforum)
“Harris writes clearly and thoughtfully on key issues facing this generation today…[he] reveals the political, cultural, and economic climates that millennials need to navigate, along with the new issues, never seen in previous generations, millennials must address. Readers interested in sociology of class, economic history, and the millennial generation will find plenty of fascinating food for thought here.”