Editing David Brooks (commentator) (section)

==Early life and education==
Brooks was born in Toronto, [[Ontario]], where his father was working on a [[PhD]] at the [[University of Toronto]]. Along with his brother, Daniel, David spent his early years living in [[Stuyvesant Town]] housing, in [[New York City]]. Their father taught English literature at [[New York University]], while their mother studied 19th-century British history at [[Columbia University]]. Brooks was raised Jewish, but rarely attended synagogue in adulthood.<ref name="chicagomag_interview">{{cite magazine|last1=Felsenthal|first1=Carol|title=David Brooks Doesn't Pay Attention to Your Criticism|url=http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/Felsenthal-Files/May-2015/David-Brooks/|magazine=[[Chicago (magazine)|Chicago]]|access-date=February 14, 2016|date=May 18, 2015}}</ref><ref name="nytimes1">{{cite news|first=David|last=Brooks|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/17/opinion/17brooks.html?_r=1|title=A Loud and Promised Land|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=April 16, 2009|quote=As an American Jew, I was taught to go all gooey-eyed at the thought of Israel{{nbsp}}... }}</ref><ref name="Beam 2010">{{cite web|last1=Beam|first1=Christopher|title=A Reasonable Man|url=http://nymag.com/news/media/67010/index5.html#print|website=[[New York magazine]]|date=July 4, 2010|access-date=November 14, 2014|quote=His wife is devoutly Jewish—she converted after they married and recently changed her name from Jane Hughes to the more biblical-sounding Sarah Brooks—but he rarely attends synagogue.}}</ref> As a young child, he was enrolled in the [[Grace Church School]], an independent [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal]] primary school in the East Village. When he was 12, his family moved to the well-to-do suburbs of Philadelphia's [[Philadelphia Main Line|Main Line]] area, where he graduated from [[Radnor High School]] in 1979. In 1983, Brooks earned his Bachelor's Degree, with a history major, from the [[University of Chicago]].<ref name="pbsbio">{{cite web |author=Brooks, David |date=2011-12-20 |title=Weekly Political Wrap: Analyst Bio—David Brooks |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/indepth_coverage/politics/political_wrap/bio_brooks.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111220140506/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/indepth_coverage/politics/political_wrap/bio_brooks.html |archive-date=December 20, 2011 |work=[[PBS NewsHour]]}}</ref> His senior thesis was on popular science writer [[Robert Ardrey]].<ref name="Beam 2010" />

As an undergraduate, Brooks frequently contributed reviews and satirical pieces to campus publications. His senior year, he wrote a spoof of the lifestyle of wealthy conservative [[William F. Buckley Jr.]], who was scheduled to speak at the university: "In the afternoons he is in the habit of going into crowded rooms and making everybody else feel inferior. The evenings are reserved for extended bouts of name-dropping."<ref>{{cite news | title=The Greatest Story Ever Told | work=The Chicago Maroon| author=David Brooks | date=April 5, 1983| url=https://campub.lib.uchicago.edu/view/?docId=mvol-0004-1983-0405#page/5/mode/1up | access-date=2024-12-20}}</ref> To his piece, Brooks appended the note: "Some would say I'm envious of Mr. Buckley. But if truth be known, I just want a job and have a peculiar way of asking. So how about it, Billy? Can you spare a dime?" When Buckley arrived to give his talk, he asked whether Brooks was in the lecture audience and offered him a job.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://magazine.uchicago.edu/0402/features/index-brooks.shtml|title=Everybody's a Critic|first=Mary Ruth|last=Yoe|magazine=[[University of Chicago Magazine]]|publisher=[[University of Chicago]]|location=Chicago, Illinois|date=February 2004}}</ref>