Touchstone Books by Simon & Schuster</br></br>Product Description</br></br>Once we bowled in leagues?? usually after work?but no longer. This seemingly small phenomenon symbolizes a significant social change that Robert Putnam has identified in this brilliant volume?? which <i>The Economist</i> hailed as ??a prodigious achievement.??<BR><BR>Drawing on vast new da"at reveal Americans?? changing behavior?? Putnam shows how we have become increasingly disconnected from one another and how social structures?whether they be PTA?? church?? or political parties?have disintegrated. Until the publication of this groundbreaking work?? no one had so deftly diagnosed the harm that these broken bonds have wreaked on our physical and civic health?? nor had anyone exalted their fundamental power in creating a society that is happy?? healthy?? and safe. <BR><BR>Like defining works from the past?? such as <i>The Lonely Crowd</i> and <i>The Affluent Society??</i> and like the works of C. Wright Mills and Betty Friedan?? Putnam??s <i>Bowling Alone</i> has identified a central crisis at the heart of our society and suggests what we can do.</br></br>Amazon.com Review</br></br>Few people outside certain scholarly circles had heard the name Robert D. Putnam before 1995. But then this self-described "emic" hit a nerve with a journal article called "Bowling Alone." Suddenly he found himself invited to Camp David?? his picture in <I>People</I> magazine?? and his thesis at the center of a raging debate. In a nutshell?? he argued that civil society was breaking down as Americans became more disconnected from their families?? neighbors?? communities?? and the republic itself. The organizations that gave life to democracy were fraying. Bowling became his driving metaphor. Years ago?? he wrote?? thousands of people belonged to bowling leagues. Today?? however?? th