Slackonomics

May 26, 2008
Freelance writer Chamberlain's exploration of the social and professional choices of Generation X is a knowledgeable and well-written addition to the growing library of books devoted to the “alternative” generation. The author focuses primarily on the way that the young men and women of the 1990s made their money, and does a nice job conveying the tough economic fortunes of the beginning of that decade and the creative and financial boom of the Internet's early days, as well as the eventual fallout when it went bust. Chamberlain uses each chapter of the book to address a specific aspect of the generation in question, often using a combination of cultural touchstones and sociology books to illustrate her point; a chapter about Gen-X relationships ponders the Richard Linklater film Before Sunrise
and quotes extensively from Stephanie Coontz's Marriage, a History
. Often, the text is taken over by monologues from Gen-Xers themselves, who narrate their winding paths through the job market, usually ending in creative and relatively fulfilling jobs as a result of their ingenuity. While the book is full of interesting mini-arguments, including an entertaining takedown of Ethan Watters's Urban Tribes
, it doesn't present a cohesive vision. Rather, it serves to illuminate the many disparate pockets of a group that continues to resist easy categorization.

July 15, 2008
"Slackonomics" doesn't have much to do with economics or with the recent best seller "Freakonomics". But then, Chamberlain is forthright about being a freelance writer, not an economist. In a book that is part armchair sociology, part oral history, and part apologia, Chamberlain bounces between the TV sitcom "Family Ties" and the film "Donnie Darko" to explain how a strange combination of ennui and passion forged the Generation X Zeitgeist. She illustrates the entrepreneurship of Gen X through the cultural intersection of the films "Wall Street" and "Say Anything". Marriage, friendship, happiness, and other aspects of the human experience get the same VH1 treatment. This generation's saving grace, argues Chamberlain, is its inclination toward creative destruction, that is, its rejection of existing systems and extrusion of only their most vital parts. Chamberlain interviews a handful of people about their alternative career success stories but never provides evidence that her interviewees aren't the exception or that creative destruction is unique to this generation. Her hyperbolic claims and reliance on 1980s1990s pop culture will likely leave readers of other generations cold. Gen Xers, however, should find this a light, nostalgic, enjoyable read. Recommended for public libraries.Robert Perret, Southwestern Coll. Lib., Winfield, KS

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