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The upswing : how America came together a century ago and how we can do it again / Robert D. Putnam ; with Shaylyn Romney Garrett.

By: Contributor(s): Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Simon & Schuster, 2020Edition: First Simon & Schuster hardcover editionDescription: 465 pages : illustrations ; 24 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781982129149
  • 198212914X
  • 9781982129156
  • 1982129158
Subject(s):
Contents:
What's past is prologue -- Economics : the rise and fall of equality -- Politics : from tribalism to comity and back again -- Society : between isolation and solidarity -- Culture : individualism vs. community -- Race and the American "we" -- Gender and the American "we" -- The arc of the twentieth century -- Drift and mastery.
Summary: "An eminent political scientist's brilliant synthesis of social and political trends over the past century that shows how we have gone from an individualistic society to a more communitarian society and then back again -- and how we can use that experience to overcome once again the individualism that currently weakens our country"-- Provided by publisher.Summary: This is the worst of times... but we've been here before. During the Gilded Age of the late 1800s, America was highly individualistic, starkly unequal, fiercely polarized, and deeply fragmented, just as it is today. As the twentieth century opened, America became more egalitarian, more cooperative, more generous; a society on the upswing, more focused on our responsibilities to one another and less focused on our narrower self-interest. Sometime during the 1960s these trends reversed, leaving us in today's disarray. Putnam analyzes the confluence of trends that brought us from an "I" society to a "We" society and then back again. -- adapted from jacket
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 306.0973 P992 Available 33111010413702
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

From the author of Bowling Alone and Our Kids, a "sweeping yet remarkably accessible" ( The Wall Street Journal ) analysis that "offers superb, often counterintuitive insights" ( The New York Times ) to demonstrate how we have gone from an individualistic "I" society to a more communitarian "We" society and then back again, and how we can learn from that experience to become a stronger, more unified nation.

Deep and accelerating inequality; unprecedented political polarization; vitriolic public discourse; a fraying social fabric; public and private narcissism--Americans today seem to agree on only one thing: This is the worst of times.

But we've been here before. During the Gilded Age of the late 1800s, America was highly individualistic, starkly unequal, fiercely polarized, and deeply fragmented, just as it is today. However as the twentieth century opened, America became--slowly, unevenly, but steadily--more egalitarian, more cooperative, more generous; a society on the upswing, more focused on our responsibilities to one another and less focused on our narrower self-interest. Sometime during the 1960s, however, these trends reversed, leaving us in today's disarray.

In a sweeping overview of more than a century of history, drawing on his inimitable combination of statistical analysis and storytelling, Robert Putnam analyzes a remarkable confluence of trends that brought us from an "I" society to a "We" society and then back again. He draws inspiring lessons for our time from an earlier era, when a dedicated group of reformers righted the ship, putting us on a path to becoming a society once again based on community. Engaging, revelatory, and timely, this is Putnam's most ambitious work yet, a fitting capstone to a brilliant career.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [351]-445) and index.

What's past is prologue -- Economics : the rise and fall of equality -- Politics : from tribalism to comity and back again -- Society : between isolation and solidarity -- Culture : individualism vs. community -- Race and the American "we" -- Gender and the American "we" -- The arc of the twentieth century -- Drift and mastery.

"An eminent political scientist's brilliant synthesis of social and political trends over the past century that shows how we have gone from an individualistic society to a more communitarian society and then back again -- and how we can use that experience to overcome once again the individualism that currently weakens our country"-- Provided by publisher.

This is the worst of times... but we've been here before. During the Gilded Age of the late 1800s, America was highly individualistic, starkly unequal, fiercely polarized, and deeply fragmented, just as it is today. As the twentieth century opened, America became more egalitarian, more cooperative, more generous; a society on the upswing, more focused on our responsibilities to one another and less focused on our narrower self-interest. Sometime during the 1960s these trends reversed, leaving us in today's disarray. Putnam analyzes the confluence of trends that brought us from an "I" society to a "We" society and then back again. -- adapted from jacket

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