David J. Garrow
The 2000 United States Census was "a snapshot of a moving target," Sam Roberts reports in this fascinatingly fact-filled picture of today's America.
— The New York Times
Library Journal
It's too bad that library strictures preclude placing this fine book in the Government Documents section along with the U.S. Census or where the census is made electronically available. Hopefully, social scientists and general readers interested in an excellent overview of the trends reflected in the most recent census (2000) will find their way to wherever this book is actually placed. Much as he did in his 1994 Who We Are: A Portrait of America, New York Times reporter Roberts puts the numbers into context; while there are appendixes and graphs, it is the author's readable style and the connections he makes between everyday life and public policy that make this a winning book. Aptly titled chapters like "Why We Count," "How We're Aging," "Where We've Moved," and "Are We Smarter?" help organize the areas of focus. Comparison with previous trends and the use of relevant news stories further enhance our understanding. Sensibly, Roberts acknowledges inconsistencies in reporting and other human foibles, as well as the impossibility of accurately predicting what lies ahead for the "average American." Recommended for all libraries.-Ellen D. Gilbert, Princeton, NJ Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
A New York Times editor examines the 2000 US Census (along with much other data) and reports that we are in some ways the same as we always were-but very different, too. Employing techniques similar to those he used in Who We Are: A Portrait of America Based on the 1990 Census (1994), Roberts stitches patches of statistical information together with a slender, though not always silken, narrative. He begins with this: the average American is a 35-year-old woman living in her own home in the metro West or South. In 1900, this statistical citizen was a 26-year-old man renting property in rural America. Roberts explains the importance of demographics, then devotes himself to such subjects as households, aging, transience, race, income, and education. (Intriguingly, there's little on religion.) He ends with a view of how the US fits statistically into today's world. Along the way, some data surprise: Only 52% of households contain a married couple. Two-thirds of black children are born out of wedlock. New York City hosts 26,402 people per square mile. One out of 32 adults is or has been in prison. Only 20% of college students fit what the author calls the "Joe College" model: a resident student in a four-year program. Other findings confirm common observation. Florida is the "oldest" state; our population is shifting to the Southwest; women and blacks earn less than white men in similar occupations. Some of the findings also have profound social implications. More than 10% of black men in their late 20s are in prison. Ballooning older generations challenge the capacity of the younger to support them. Meantime, the text and numerous charts are sometimes dense with numbers and allusions; oneparagraph features Ehrenreich, Jefferson, Arnold, Fussell, Marx, Baritz, and Flaubert. To his credit, Roberts strives to maintain political neutrality, though he characterizes mandatory sentencing laws as "Draconian."Always useful, often entertaining, rarely dull. (34 b&w illustrations)
