"Bowling Alone" warns us that our stock of "social capital," the very fabric of our connections with each other, has been accelerating down. Putnam describes the resulting impoverishment of our lives & communities. Drawing on evidence that includes nearly half a million interviews conducted over a quarter of a century, Putnam shows how changes in work, family structure, age, suburban life, TV, computers, women's roles, & other factors are isolating us from each other. We sign 30 percent fewer petitions than we did ten years ago. Membership in organizations--from the Elks, Boy Scouts, & political parties, to the Knights of Columbus, P.T.A., & churches--is falling.

Ties with friends & relatives are fraying: we're 35 percent less likely to visit neighbors or have dinner with our families than we were thirty years ago. We watch ball-games alone instead of with our buddies. A century ago, our means of connecting were at a low point after decades of urbanization, industrialization, & immigration uprooted us from our families & friends. That generation demonstrated a capacity for renewal by creating the organizations that pulled Americans together. Putnam shows how we can learn from them & reinvent common enterprises that will make us secure, productive, happy, & hopeful.