Audiobooks by Timothy P. Carney

Family Unfriendly: How Our Culture Made Raising Kids Much Harder Than It Needs to Be

The bestselling author of Alienated America traveled the country asking families and experts the same questions: why is parenting so much harder even though the kids are less happy than than a generation ago? Parenting seems harder these days, and Millennials and Generation Z don’t seem up for it. Why? It’s easy to blame cost or selfishness, but kids have long been an economic drag, and adults have always been selfish. The question is: What’s changed? The answer is culture. Our culture is less friendly to parenting that it used to be, and should be. When we were kids, no one was watching us every moment. That was a good thing: it meant our parents felt confident in the society around us. That was the past. Today, the mode of parenting is about hypercontrol. Kids must constantly be cosseted, entertained, trained, scheduled, and catechized as little activists and influencers. Timothy P. Carney argues that we need to lighten up and return to the virtues of old-fashioned parenting. We need to give kids space to both fail and succeed, to have adventures and gain unexpected knowledge and enjoy unscheduled time. This means escaping the travel-team trap, abandoning helicopter parenting, strengthening communities, changing the workplace, and ultimately restoring the belief that humans—adults, kids, and babies—are good. It’s no wonder birth rates have dropped, and that our kids are suffering unprecedented anxiety and depression. Our culture sets unreasonable standards for parents, diminishes the value of family, and makes us feel bad for existing. Drawing on rigorous research—both as a reporter and as a dad of six—Carney demonstrates why modern parenting is so misguided. The high standards set for modern American parenting are unrealistic and setting parents—and our kids—up to fail.

Timothy P. Carney (Author), Timothy P. Carney (Narrator)

Audiobook

Alienated America: Why Some Places Thrive While Others Collapse

Respected conservative journalist and commentator Timothy P. Carney continues the conversation begun with Hillbilly Elegy and the classic Bowling Alone in this hard-hitting analysis that identifies the true factor behind the decline of the American dream: it is not purely the result of economics as the left claims, but the collapse of the institutions that made us successful, including marriage, church, and civic life. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald J. Trump proclaimed, “the American dream is dead,” and this message resonated across the country. Why do so many people believe that the American dream is no longer within reach? Growing inequality, stubborn pockets of immobility, rising rates of deadly addiction, the increasing and troubling fact that where you start determines where you end up, heightening political strife—these are the disturbing realities threatening ordinary American lives today. The standard accounts pointed to economic problems among the working class, but the root was a cultural collapse: While the educated and wealthy elites still enjoy strong communities, most blue-collar Americans lack strong communities and institutions that bind them to their neighbors. And outside of the elites, the central American institution has been religion. That is, it’s not the factory closings that have torn us apart; it’s the church closings. The dissolution of our most cherished institutions—nuclear families, places of worship, civic organizations—has not only divided us, but eroded our sense of worth, belief in opportunity, and connection to one another. In Alienated America, Carney visits all corners of America, from the dim country bars of Southwestern Pennsylvania., to the bustling Mormon wards of Salt Lake City, and explains the most important data and research to demonstrate how the social connection is the great divide in America. He shows that Trump’s surprising victory was the most visible symptom of this deep-seated problem. In addition to his detailed exploration of how a range of societal changes have, in tandem, damaged us, Carney provides a framework that will lead us back out of a lonely, modern wilderness.

Timothy P. Carney (Author), Charles Constant (Narrator)

Audiobook

Obamanomics: How Barack Obama Is Bankrupting You and Enriching His Wall Street Friends, Corporate Lo

Sweetheart deals for Wall Street, the nationalization of the automakers, global-warming regulations, and President Obama's unprecedented spending spree are an all-out assault on regular Americans' pocketbooks.In Obamanomics, Timothy P. Carney shows how the economic corruption of President Obama's Washington is far beyond political business as usual. From a free-spending stimulus package that was a treasure trove for Obama-friendly corporate interests and lobbyists, to the revolving door between Wall Street and the Obama administration, to putting the unions in the driver's seat of GM and Chrysler, Obamanomics tells it all. And the worst part is that the American taxpayers have to foot the bill'whether they like it and voted for it or not.

Timothy P. Carney (Author), Tom Weiner (Narrator)

Audiobook