Editing David Brooks (commentator) (section)

===Books===
In reviewing ''On Paradise Drive'' (2004), [[Michael Kinsley]] described Brooks' "sociological method" as having "four components: fearless generalizing, clever coinage, jokes and shopping lists." Taking umbrage with the first of these, Kinsley states, "Brooks does not let the sociology get in the way of the shtick, and he wields a mean shoehorn when he needs the theory to fit the joke".<ref name = Kinsley>{{cite news|last1=Kinsley|first1=Michael|title=Suburban Thrall|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/23/books/suburban-thrall.html|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|location=New York City|date=May 23, 2004|access-date=November 14, 2014}}</ref> This followed the 2004 ''[[Philadelphia magazine|Philadelphia]]'' magazine fact-checking of ''Bobos in Paradise'' by [[Sasha Issenberg]] that concluded many of its comments about [[Middle America (United States)|middle America]] were misleading or untrue.<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Issenberg|first1=Sasha|authorlink=Sasha Issenberg |title=Boo-Boos in Paradise|url=https://www.phillymag.com/news/2004/04/01/david-brooks-booboos-in-paradise/|magazine=[[Philadelphia (magazine)|Philadelphia]]|date=April 1, 2004|access-date=November 14, 2014}}</ref> Kinsley reported that "Brooks defend[ed] his generalizations as poetic hyperbole".<ref name = Kinsley/> Issenberg likewise noted that Brooks insisted that the book was not intended to be factual but rather to report impressions of what he believed an area to be like: "He laughed"  that the book was "'partially tongue-in-cheek'". Issenberg continues, "I went through some of the other instances where he made declarations that appeared insupportable. He accused me of being 'too pedantic,' of 'taking all of this too literally,' of 'taking a joke and distorting it.' 'That's totally unethical', he said." <!--UNCLEAR AS TO WHICH ARTICLE, BROOKS ORIGINAL OR ISSENBERG, THAT THIS STATEMENT ADDRESSES: Brooks later said of the Issenberg the article made him feel that "I ''suck''...I can't remember what I said but my mother told me I was extremely stupid."--><ref name="Beam 2010" />

In 2015, David Zweig expressed the opinion in a ''[[Salon (website)|Salon]]'' piece that Brooks had gotten "nearly every detail" wrong about a poll of high school students in his recent, ''[[The Road to Character]]''.<ref name=Zweig150615>{{cite web| last1=Zweig|first1=David|date=June 15, 2015|title=The Facts vs. David Brooks: Startling Inaccuracies Raise Questions About His Latest Book | work = [[Salon.com]] | url=http://www.salon.com/2015/06/15/the_facts_vs_david_brooks_startling_inaccuracies_raise_questions_about_his_latest_book/ | access-date=August 15, 2015  }}</ref>