No Babies?

By Russell Shorto

New York Times 

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/29/magazine/29Birth-t.htmlem&ex=1215057600&en=09129f2e69719b25&ei=5070

Shorto is writing about the birthrate crisis that Europeans are currently facing. Their birthrate has dropped down to 1.3 average babies per person when the rate needed to maintain a population is 2.1. 

Shorto's lead for his somewhat lengthy article with a story about a southern Italy town where the mayor resorted to paying women to have children. This story is very interesting and really captures the reader's attention right away. When I clicked on this story I found myself instantly captivated by the story, and I was curious about why the birthrate has fallen so low.

Shorto really goes into depth offering many different explanations about Europe's birthrate crisis, including the idea from a scientist that the reduction of the amount of people on Earth is not a crisis at all. He interviews different social scientists and political figures to gain an insight into the problem and carefully explains each of their theories.

This story was overall compelling and was laid out so it was easy to understand and held the reader's interest.