Media coverage

What Are Children For? Reviews

• Inside Higher Ed, “What Are Children For?’ and Higher Ed’s Demographic Cliff,” by Joshua Kim (July 10, 2025)

• Commonweal, “Little Life-Ruiners: How we came to see children as a burden—and how to stop,” by Naomi Fisher (January 29, 2025)

• The Philosopher, “The Philosophy of Parenting: Ambivalence in an Age of Choice: Adam Ferner reviews What Are Children For?: On Ambivalence and Choice by Anastasia Berg and Rachel Wiseman,” by Adam Ferner (December 11, 2024)

• The Critic, “The Generation Game,” by Phoebe Arslanagic-Little (November 28, 2024)

• Guardian, “Mother State by Helen Charman; What Are Children For? by Anastasia Berg and Rachel Wiseman review—the body political,” by Stephanie Merritt (September 15, 2024)

• Wall Street Journal, “Three Books on What Being a Parent Really Means” by Jennifer Frey (August 23, 2024)

• Law & Liberty, “The Progressive Case for Parenthood” by Elizabeth Grace Matthew (August 16, 2024)

• The Dispatch, “‘What Are Children For?’ Can’t Remain a Question Forever” by Elayne Allen (August 10, 2024)

• The Atlantic, “The Real Reason People Aren’t Having Kids” by Christine Emba (August 1, 2024)

• Compact, “The Poverty of Secular Pro-Natalism” by Leila Meichoui (July 31, 2024)

• First Things, “Why Millennials Aren’t Having Children” by Luke Lyman (July 29, 2024)

• New Statesman, “Generation Not Yet” by Ann Manov (July 25, 2024)

• Washington Post, “Why Are Today’s Young People Ambivalent About Having Kids?” by Katha Pollitt (July 18, 2024)

• Christianity Today, “Kids Aren’t Cheap. That Doesn’t Fully Explain Why We’re Ambivalent About Having Them” by Bonnie Kristian (June 12, 2024)

• New Yorker, “How Liberals Talk About Children” by Jay Caspian Kang (June 7, 2024)

• Library Journal, “What Are Children For?: On Ambivalence and Choice” by Julia M. Reffner (May 1, 2024)

• Publishers Weekly, “What Are Children For?: On Ambivalence and Choice” (March 18, 2024)

• Kirkus Reviews, “What Are Children For?: On Ambivalence and Choice” (January 25, 2024)

What Are Children For? Podcasts & radio

• Overthink Podcast, “What Are Children For?: a conversation with Anastasia Berg,” with Ellie Anderson (March 14, 2025)

• Persuasion, “What Are Children For?” with Yascha Mounk (January 19, 2025)

• Good on Paper, “Is Ambivalence Killing Parenthood?” with Jerusalem Demsas (November 26, 2024)

• NPR, “Why pop stars aren't having kids (and why you might not either),” with Brittany Luse (November 15, 2024)

• New York Times Opinion, “Why Have Kids? A Liberal Case for Natalism” (September 16, 2024)

• Wisdom of Crowds, “What Are Children For?” with Damir Marusic and Christine Emba (August 9, 2024)

• On Nonfiction, “Anastasia Berg and Rachel Wiseman, Authors of What Are Children For?” with Callie Hitchcock (August 6, 2024)

• Manifesto Podcast, “Should We Bring Children into Existence?” with Phil Klay and Jacob Siegel (July 25, 2024)

• WOSU Public Media, All Sides, “Why Americans Aren’t Having Children” with Anna Staver (July 30, 2024)

• Plain English, “The Radical Cultural Shift Behind America’s Declining Birth Rate” with Derek Thompson (June 21, 2024)

• Commonweal, “How to Talk About Having Kids” with Dominic Preziosi (June 13, 2024)

• KSL NewsRadio Inside Sources, “Anastasia Berg and Rachel Wiseman: Keep Children Out of the Culture Wars” with Boyd Mathesen (June 12, 2024)

• Time to Say Goodbye, “What Are Children For?: A talk with Anastasia Berg and Rachel Wiseman about their new book” with Jay Caspian Kang and Tyler Harper Austin (June 5, 2024)

What Are Children For? TV

• Amanpour & Co., “‘What Are Children For?’ Why Millennials and Gen-Zers Aren’t Having Kids,” with Michel Marti (September 6, 2024)

• Novara Media, Interview with Michael Walker (August 31, 2024)

What Are Children For? Interviews & features

• Comment, “Why Have Children?” with Brian Dijkema (June 2025)

• Uchicago Magazine, “Swing State,” by Carrie Golus (Spring 2025)

• New Statesman: Politics and Culture, “Why Are We having Fewer Children?” with Tom Gatti (January 19, 2025)

• Usbek & Rica, “Être écolo ne devrait pas empêcher d’avoir des enfants,” by Pablo Maillé (September 2, 2024)

• Public Discourse, “What Are Children For? A Q&A with Rachel Wiseman and Anastasia Berg” with Serena Sigillito (August 1, 2024)

• Harvard Gazette, “What’s the Point of Kids?” by Samantha Laine Perfas (July 15, 2024)

• Good Housekeeping UK, “Why Motherhood Has Become a Tougher Decision for Women” by Joanna Moorhead (July 1, 2024)

• Publishers Weekly, “New Books on Deciding Whether to Have Children” by Pooja Makhijani (January 5, 2024)

What Are Children For? Other coverage

• The New Statesman, “The Question of Childlessness,” by Madeleine Davies (January 15, 2025)

• New York Times, “Do You Want to Have Children When You Are Older?” by Jeremy Engle (December 3, 2024)

• The Phoenix, “What Are Children For? Anastasia Berg Examines the Decision of Parenthood at Night Owls,” by Eleanor Xu (November 21, 2024)

• Washington Post, “Why Americans Are Having Fewer Kids—and Why It Could be a Problem,” by the Editorial Board (September 27, 2024)

• CNN, “Child-free Spaces, Dirty Looks on Planes and ‘Breeders’: Why People Seem So Annoyed by Kids,” by Harmeet Kaur (September 19, 2024)

• New York Times, “Kids? A Growing Number of Americans Say, ‘No Thanks,’” by Christina Caron (July 25, 2024)

• Washington Examiner, “Why Democrats don’t want children,” by Conn Carroll (June 11, 2024)