This just in: Son of Nobel Prize winner supports nepotism

"What war on nepotism?" one wants to ask. Bellow's survey of nepotism in America takes note of the reforms of the political-spoils system and the institution of civil-service exams. Is this what he means by "going too far"?

It is also his contention that Americans harbor an unreasonable fear of nepotism. If so, why did so many support George W. Bush instead of John McCain or Orrin Hatch in the Republican primaries? Why did New Yorkers elect Hillary Clinton to the Senate?

The question remains: How well does this book serve as history, apart from its limp but still palpable polemic? Although Bellow's inspirational model, the late William Henry, may have tried to defend elitism, Bellow is eager to plunge us right into popular culture: The first stop on his secondhand tour of natural and human history is Francis Ford Coppola's "Godfather" film trilogy, on which Bellow expends an inordinate amount of time and energy.

Subsequent chapters dish up warmed-over discourse on kinship from the fields of sociobiology and anthropology; discussion of nepotism among the ancient Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans; and a survey of nepotism in non-Western societies conducted with the kind of cultural relativism that invites us not only to understand but also to admire institutions like the Indian caste system. The most attention, however, is given to the history of nepotism in America - which, unfortunately, is the least interesting part of the book.

Bellow wants to draw a distinction between "good" and "bad" nepotism. The latter involves blindly favoring family members who are utterly unqualified for the positions they are given, and worse yet, ungrateful. "Good" nepotism seems to involve helping members of one's family, instilling loyalty and other "family values" in one's offspring, and helping them learn the ropes of the familial business, trade, or profession. As Bellow defines it, good nepotism can also mean mentoring protégés who are not actually family members. In his view, "nepotism" might even mean having a sense of loyalty to one's religion, ethnic group, race, or nation.

The trouble is, he ends up defining the term so broadly as to render it meaningless. Bellow may want to see "good nepotism" in the actions of parents who sacrifice to send their children to college, but that is not what the term commonly signifies.

Lastly, Bellow's claim that nepotism is endangered seems at best nonsensical, particularly at a time when there is a widening gap between rich and poor and a corresponding tendency to consolidate dynastic wealth (by abolishing the inheritance tax, for instance). Far from damping down our anxieties about nepotism, let alone praising it, what's needed is a book to sound an alarm against it.

• Merle Rubin reviews books regularly for the Monitor and The Wall Street Journal.

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