David Brooks eludes easy classification. To call him a journalist is the equivalent of calling Donald Trump a real-estate developer: the label may not be wrong, but it is thoroughly insufficient. A columnist for the New York Times, author of several bestsellers, regular participant in weekly NPR and PBS news roundups—did I mention his teaching gig at Yale?—Brooks is anything but an ink-stained wretch. He is our Walter Lippmann, positioned above the fray to tell us what it all means.
Brooks differs from Lippmann in at last two respects. He possesses a wry sense of humor, whereas Lippmann seemingly never cracked a smile. And while Lippmann distanced himself from his Jewish heritage, Brooks has never done so. He is thoroughly a Jew, albeit one whose personal Exodus story has now led him to become a kind of Christian as well. That's the big reveal in “A Most Unexpected Turn of Events,” the twenty-first chapter of his new book, The Second Mountain.
As for the twenty preceding chapters and the several that follow it, I suppose it's all a matter of taste, but I found them formulaic, preachy, and too pat. Skip them or skim them as you will. Yet linger over Chapter 21 with its moving and insightful account of the author's own midlife spiritual awakening.
Even so, as a reviewer I am obliged to summarize and assess the balance of the book. The principal subject of The Second Mountain is joy. In simplest terms, it offers a handbook for seekers of joy, a quality that Brooks distinguishes from mere happiness. People who live on what he calls the “first mountain” are motivated by “some vision of prominence, pleasure, and success.” They are seeking happiness. For most of us, getting to the top of this first mountain is a lifelong quest. We never reach our goal. “The grand narrative of individual emancipation” turns out to be a hoax.
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