The Triple Package, by Amy Chua and Jed Rubenfeld

As I mentioned in my last blog post, when I read Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance (reviewed here), I was inspired to pick up Amy Chua's Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. Amy Chua had served as a mentor to Mr. Vance when he was struggling with whether or not to continue his studies at Yale Law School. When I was looking into Ms. Chua and considering whether to read Battle Hymn, I noticed that she had also co-authored a book with her husband Jed Rubenfeld. The Triple Package: How Three Unlikely Traits Explain the Rise and Fall of Cultural Groups in America picks up on some of the themes in Battle Hymn, by addressing what it is about certain groups, primarily immigrant groups, that cause their children to excel in education and business.

According to Ms. Chua and Mr. Rubenfeld, the three traits that most of these groups have in common are a sense of superiority, a sense of insecurity, and impulse control. They address each of these traits in turn, using historical and contemporary examples to illustrate their claims. They highlight the groups that have out-performed and debunked claims that their success has anything to do with genetics or innate intelligence. Not only do they explore the traits that cause groups to succeed, but they also describe how most of these traits are lost in subsequent generations. They discuss how some trends, such as the self-esteem movement, have hurt children's ability to excel. They also convincingly point out that when some groups do poorly, it is often as a result of society's active attempts through bigotry and discrimination to prevent them from improving. This book is heavily researched and convincing. It would be a valuable read for anyone who's interested in how to improve everyone's chances to excel and succeed.

Amy Chua and Jed Rubenfeld. The Triple Package: How Three Unlikely Traits Explain the Rise and Fall of Cultural Groups in America. New York: Penguin Books, 2015. 336 pages. ISBN 9780143126355.