I can’t say an awful lot because it’s not out yet and I read it for a blurb. But Brett McCracken is a longtime colleague of sorts – we seem to bump into each other at the various magazines and websites we write for and had brunch last year when he was in Brooklyn on a research trip for this book. He’s also a writer I admire immensely.
This is what I will say: The book is not what you think it is, at all, and thankfully, it will probably never be described as “irreverent.” It’s actually a serious yet accessible and affectionate look at a cultural phenomenon and it finishes with some valuable insights for churches, Christians, and hipsters (and those who love them or want to be or attract them). However, I think most people – Christian or not, hipster or not – would find the book interesting on some level.
It would be especially eye-opening for people who lead or belong to self-consciously cool churches (which Brett rightly classifies as “wannabes” instead of actual hipster churches – hipster in the best sense, that is, not the lazy way the culture at large has taken to using the word to condemn anyone with taste or some sense of cultural awareness).
This is a ridiculously hard and divisive topic to tackle, but Brett did a great, serious job. Worth reading, when it hits shelves in August.