Book Review: Tiger Mom's Superiority Complex

Yale law professor Amy Chua gained fame—and stoked fires in the mommy wars—in 2011 with a Wall Street Journal piece called “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior.” The essay introduced Chua’s provocative book, The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, which embraced cultural stereotypes about Asian moms having academically successful offspring because they don’t let their kids watch TV, get out of playing the piano or violin, or “not be the No. 1 student in every subject except gym and drama.” Three years later, Tiger Mom is back, with her claws only slightly retracted, and a co-author, her husband, fellow Yale law professor, and novelist Jed Rubenfeld. Their book, The Triple Package: How Three Unlikely Traits Explain the Rise and Fall of Cultural Groups in America, has no problem with absolutes, either.

Instead of sticking with one outstanding tribe—the Chinese—Chua and Rubenfeld add seven more: Jews, Lebanese, Indians, Iranians, Nigerians, Cuban exiles, and Mormons. The authors (Chua is Chinese, and Rubenfeld is Jewish) say these eight groups are more financially and academically successful than others in the U.S. because they possess “the triple package” of traits—superiority, insecurity, and good impulse control.