Little Platoons, Matt Feeney
Little Platoons, Matt Feeney
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Little Platoons
A Defense of Family in a Competitive Age

Author: Matt Feeney

Narrator: Jonathan Yen

Unabridged: 9 hr 46 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 03/09/2021


Synopsis

This eye-opening book brilliantly explores the true roots of over-parenting, and makes a case for the vital importance of family life.

Parents naturally worry about the future. They want to prepare their children to compete in an uncertain world. But often, argues political philosopher and father of three Matt Feeney, today's worried parents surrender their family's autonomy to gain a leg up in this competition.

In the American ideal, family life is a sacred and private sphere, distinct from the outside world. But in our hypercompetitive times, Feeney shows, parents have become increasingly willing to let the inner life of the family be colonized by outside forces that promise better futures for their kids: prestigious preschools, "educational" technologies, youth sports leagues, a multitude of enrichment activities, and -- most of all -- college. A provocative, eye-opening book for any parent who suspects their kids' stuffed schedules are not serving their best interests, Little Platoons calls us to rediscover the distinctive, profound solidarity of family life.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Dallin on July 07, 2021

I’m inclined to agree with the book’s premise, but even still, I think it deserves five stars and being read. The author writes with a good mix of theory, research, anecdotes, and personal experience. The overall claim—that institutions seek for their own good above all else, so families should be w......more

Goodreads review by Adrienne on January 09, 2022

I'm a pretty unconventional parent, and I have rejected a lot of the things mainstream American parents accept by default (we've always homeschooled, I'm very restrictive with screens, my teenagers do not and will never have smart phones or be on social media, etc). I don't care what other people ar......more

Goodreads review by Andrew on January 10, 2023

Boomer-neglect parenting vs. Contemporary-overparenting. Selfish ambition is bad. Yelling and anger are also bad. Strong family culture is good. Smartphones are bad. Kids playing by themselves is good. The sections on youth sports and college admissions are probably the strongest parts. Though I don......more

Goodreads review by Eric on June 08, 2022

The premise is interesting: we live in an age where we allow large institutions like colleges to take over our parenting decisions, and the lives we carry out as a family unit are dictated by how we optimize our childrens' college admissions chances. But the structure and context of the book itself......more

Goodreads review by Brittany on May 09, 2022

The tone of this one was a bit off for me. Appreciated many sections/insights but others were hard skips/too repetitive.......more


Quotes

"Little Platoons offers revelatory insights into the workings of institutions that cluster around the family and feed off it, turning our most intimate loyalties to bureaucratic purposes while reshaping parents and children alike into compliant drones. In this most wise and spirited book, Matt Feeney recalls us to the family's inherent potential-as a little conspiracy of defiance, a nursery of secret joys and private meanings. Inside jokes! Along the way, he scrambles our culture war categories of progressive and conservative. To read Little Platoons is to experience a critical awakening of the rarest kind, one that affirms our love for our own and fills the breast with a new determination. Here is the work of a father-judicious, humane, and ready to fight."—Matthew B. Crawford, New York Times-bestselling author of Shop Class as Soulcraft

"Little Platoons is a brilliant, acutely observant analysis of why parents are slowly driving themselves crazy as they try to launch their kids into satisfying and successful futures. Matt Feeney writes as a fellow sufferer, with a style that is so welcoming and engaging that you want him to be your best friend."—Barry Schwartz, author of The Costs of Living, The Paradox of Choice, and Practical Wisdom