Bowling Alone: Revised and Updated

The Collapse and Revival of American Community

By: Robert D. Putnam

Narrated by: Arthur Morey

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 The Economist hailed as "a prodigious achievement".

Drawing on vast new data that 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.

Like defining works from the past, such as The Lonely Crowd and The Affluent Society, and like the works of C. Wright Mills and Betty Friedan, Putnam's Bowling Alone has identified a central crisis at the heart of our society and suggests what we can do.

Download the accompanying reference guide.©2000 Robert D. Putnam. All rights reserved. (P)2016 Simon & Schuster

Enlightening, but Dry

Expert analysis of the reduction of social capital, but very dry. Still a classic work.

Important Work / Audio Challenge

A well-researched work that is very important in this area of research. Audio gripe: the pairing of this narrator with the mic that was used yields a production that is a tough listen in the car… too lower-mid-rangy which fails to stand out above typical car motion drone. This needs to be re-recorded at some point.

An excellent and insightful read

Valuable research into community through a lens of history, tradition, technology, and war. Definitely worth the read.

Make note of copyright date

Full disclosure, I didn't finish the title.

Hopefully everyone else is smarter than I am and made note of the copyright date, as opposed to the publication date of the audiobook. While the content is revised and updated since its initial publication, even the revisions are 20 years old at this point. Some of the information and analysis is timeless, but much of it is too far out of date to be as meaningful as I'd wanted. We've seen the Great Recession and the rise and transformation of the Tea Party since this was updated, social and political life is simply not the same as it was.

That being said, I enjoyed the first chapter and found that the author made a reasonably successful attempt to be thorough and objective in his collection and presentation of data. I would love to read this book updated for the 20s.

Thank you

Thank you for explaining the time line of America’s social history. I learned so much.

Food for thought

There is so much to think about presented in this book. I love the data and Rich analysis, as well as the balanced interpretation of the data that is provided. The arguments are good and so much food for thought is available for the reader.

I wonder what he would think about TikTok

In all seriousness, this is an excellent book. For others requesting a more updated version I have one question for you: what do you expect the findings to be? Obviously, things have gotten exponentially worse.

As a Gen Z who grew up in the rural southeast, non-religious civic clubs are more or less dead. What makes it worse is that Evangelical churches don’t do much to focus on life here on earth (and in many ways resign themselves from community involvement) because of the belief that the otherworldly afterlife is more important.

Some readers might cite Kevin MacDonald’s Culture of Critique for explanations of why social cohesion has rapidly declined since 1965, but I believe there is a heavy technological influence that started first with TV, and was amplified through the introduction of the smartphone. Family time, marriage rates, and even participation in dating have all taken a serious hit in recent decades. Although this book may seem pessimistic to some, I think readers can gain some insights into how a positive and engaged community could be created.

New edition!

This is such widely sourced material, I highly encourage the completion of an updated edition that would include the impact the development of digital social media has had on society, as well as legislation that increases the importance of capital in our political system, as opposed to minimizing that importance as the author argues for in this great work.

A thoroughly informative book.

An amazing work by Robert Putnam, it's a must-read for anyone concerned about America !

Great insights!

You should however be used to reading scientific literature before starting on this book.