Naomi Schaefer Riley

Selfish, Shallow, and Self-Absorbed: Sixteen Writers on the Decision Not to Have Kids edited by meghan daum picador, 288 pages, $26 The Dadly Virtues: Adventures from the Worst Job You’ll Ever Love edited by jonathan v. last templeton, 192 pages, $24.95 These days it is widely assumed that a . . . . Continue Reading »

The New Class Conflictby joel kotkintelos, 230 pages, $29.95 About five years after we graduated from college a friend called me from Philadelphia. She had spent some time bouncing between San Francisco and New York working in finance and consulting, and had decided to start her own business and . . . . Continue Reading »

A few weeks ago, I found myself speaking about interfaith marriage at a Reform synagogue in a wealthy suburb of New York. I’ve given many of these talks since the publication of my book on the topic, ’Til Faith Do Us Part: How Interfaith Marriage Is Transforming America. During the Q & A . . . . Continue Reading »

Far From the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity by Andrew Solomon Scribner, 976 pages, $37.50 At the most superficial level, raising children is about getting to the next stage: getting them to sleep through the night, to eat solid food, to give up the pacifier, to use the toilet. . . . . Continue Reading »

A review of The Accordion . . . . Continue Reading »

Faith and Money: How Religion Contributes to Wealth and Poverty by Lisa A. Keister Cambridge, 254 pages, $27.99 In the age of Occupy Wall Street, remarking on American inequality has become our national pastime. Look at how wide the gap has grown between rich and poor. And what are the causes? . . . . Continue Reading »

Lost in Transition: The Dark Side of Emerging Adulthood by Christian Smith, with Kari Christoffersen, Hilary Davidson, and Patricia Snell Herzog Oxford, 296 pages, $27.95 A few years ago, an intern came to me with what he no doubt thought was an exciting new idea for a piece about “the youth . . . . Continue Reading »

The investiture of a university president—that is, the ceremony in which the authority and symbols of that office are first conferred—is a celebratory occasion, but it must also be an anxious one. The responsibility for leading a large educational institution has always been tremendous, . . . . Continue Reading »

The nation’s Roman Catholic bishops have recently approved procedures for certifying that theologians teaching Catholic theology at Catholic colleges do in fact teach Catholic theology. While the decision was decried by some as an assault on academic freedom, the bishops explained that they . . . . Continue Reading »