Millennial Makeover

Price: $24.95  

Subtitle: MySpace, YouTube, and
the Future of American Politics
Author: Morley Winograd and Michael D. Hais
Subject: Politics, Current Events, Film and Media
Cloth ISBN: 978-0-8135-4301-7

Pages: 312 pages
Publication Date: March 2008

Reviews for Millennial Makeover

"According to the authors of Millennial Makeover: MySpace, YouTube, and the Future of American Politics, change is indeed on its way, and the magnitude of that change will be monumental — a tectonic realignment of the sort that occurs about every four decades, leading to a fundamental shift in policy priorities and voter coalitions."—Michiko Kakutani, New York Times (April 22)

Featured on the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle (April 20)

"Winograd and Hais brilliantly capture the sheer magnitude in which a new, young, and refreshed generation of American's are shedding the old mantra of "the youths lack of involvement" in the political landscape, and are in fact fixing to change the face of American politics as we know now it." —Hyerstandard (April 13)

"This is a remarkable book, and one that I'll be referring to often this election. If you want to understand the historical context of the 2008 election, read this book." —Jerome Armstrong, MyDD (March 30)

"With sound analysis, the authors persuasively contend that the prospect of Millennials going viral (using their numbers, values, commitments, and sociopolitical networking to effect change and demand new political leadership) must not be underestimated. If their conclusions are accurate, 2008 will be remembered as a turning point in American politics. Highly recommended."—Library Journal (starred review)

"I think that Millennial Makeover will be read with pleasure by Democrats and should be read with careful, worried attention by Republicans." —Michael Barone, Wall Street Journal.

Featured in Washington Post Book World Politics Round-Up (March 9)

Mentioned in Frank Rich column (February 14)

Piece in Washington Post Outlook (February 3)

Praise for Millennial Makeover

“In the spirit of their subjects, Morley Winograd and Michael Hais have mashed up history, pop culture, and sociology to produce a compelling and pathbreaking portrait of a generation poised to reshape American politics.”
—Ronald Brownstein, author of The Second Civil War

“Here is an insightful—and provocative—look at the future of American politics.  It will delight some people and startle others—but it will leave no one unmoved.”
—David S. Broder, Washington Post

“Millennial Makeover builds a strong case for how today’s rising generation is poised to become a political powerhouse, re-energizing civic spirit and transforming both the substance and process of American politics. With new technologies, attitudes, and agendas, this generation could define the twenty-first century just as fundamentally as the G.I. Generation defined the twentieth century. Winograd and Hais build a strong, historically rooted case for how this could unfold.”
—Neil Howe and William Strauss, authors of Generations: The History of America’s Future, 1584–2069 

It happens in America every four decades and it is about to happen again. America's demand for change in the 2008 election will cause another of our country's periodic political makeovers. This realignment, like all others before it, will result from the coming of age of a new generation of young Americans-the Millennial Generation-and the full emergence of the Internet-based communications technology that this generation uses so well. Beginning in 2008, almost everything about American politics and government will transform-voting patterns, the fortunes of the two political parties, the issues that engage the nation, and our government and its public policy.

Building on the seminal work of previous generational theorists, Morley Winograd and Michael D. Hais demonstrate and describe, for the first time, the two types of realignments-"idealist" and "civic"-that have alternated with one another throughout the nation's history. Based on these patterns, Winograd and Hais predict that the next realignment will be very different from the last one that occurred in 1968. "Idealist" realignments, like the one put into motion forty years ago by the Baby Boomer Generation, produce, among other things, a political emphasis on divisive social issues and governmental gridlock. "Civic" realignments, like the one that is coming, and the one produced by the famous GI or "Greatest" Generation in the 1930s, by contrast, tend to produce societal unity, increased attention to and successful resolution of basic economic and foreign policy issues, and institution-building.

The authors detail the contours and causes of the country's five previous political makeovers, before delving deeply into the generational and technological trends that will shape the next. The book's final section forecasts the impact of the Millennial Makeover on the elections, issues, and public policies that will characterize America's politics in the decades ahead.

Morley Winograd served as senior policy advisor to Vice President Al Gore and director of the National Partnership for Reinventing Government (NPR) from December 1, 1997 until January 20, 2001. He was the executive director of the Institute for Communication Technology Management (CTM) at USC’s Marshall School of Business from July, 2001 until July, 2009. Winograd also co-authored (with Dudley Buffa) Taking Control: Politics in the Information Age (Holt, 1996). Winograd’s lectures on the topic of technology's reshaping of America have won wide praise in forums as diverse as the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco, Los Angeles' Town Hall, Harvard's JFK School of Government, and Bologna University's John Hopkins School of International Affairs.

Michael D. Hais served for a decade as Vice President, Entertainment Research and for more than 22 years overall at Frank N. Magid Associates where he conducted audience research for hundreds of television stations, cable channels, and program producers in nearly all 50 states and more than a dozen foreign countries. Prior to joining Magid in 1983, Hais was a political pollster for Democrats in Michigan and an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Detroit. He received a B.A. from the University of Iowa, an M.A. from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, all in political science.