It’s impossible to deny the influence this book had in its day. It’s referenced by numerous writers who became famous later on as one of those books that helped to open their eyes. It still does have a lot of good and important ideas, and like many other important ideas, those inspired by the book took the ideas to places that elevated them.
The book is a kind of polemic against the uselessness of modern life to the youth of America circa 1958 or so. What Goodman saw was a disaffectation of young people from a society in which so much had been given over to wealth-procurement, that the soul had been ripped from life. This of course ended up being a common theme of the 1950s and 1960s, and Goodman acts as a kind of sage and articulator of those feelings. He speaks to the need for young people to feel connected to their work, connected to the world of ideas and influence, and to have things to believe in. All of which more or less sound to me.
The issue with the book is that plenty of the analysis feels a little thin and suspect at times. You also very much get the sense that something is being left out. Well it turns out what is being left out is women and anyone who is not white. But especially women. It’s not obvious necessarily either as the book skirts around the issue as well. This isn’t a Jordan Peterson book, but one that focuses its attention on that specific demographic. What comes through then is a book that ends up being picked up by people of all political backgrounds as a succinct thesis of what’s wrong with America. It’s just very limited in that thesis it turns out.
