Better Together examines how people across the country are inventing new forms of social activism and community renewal. An arts program in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, brings together shipyard workers and their gentrified neighbors; a deteriorating, crime-ridden neighborhood in Boston is transformed by a determined group of civic organizers; an online "virtual" community in San Francisco allows its members to connect with each other as well as the larger group; in Wisconsin schoolchildren learn how to participate in the political process to benefit their town. As our society grows increasingly diverse, say Putnam and Feldstein, it's more important than ever to grow "social capital," whether by traditional or more innovative means. The people profiled in Better Together are doing just that, and their stories illustrate the extraordinary power of social networks for enabling people to improve their lives and the lives of those around them.
Better Together: Restoring the American Community
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more
 |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Shop the Amazon.com Textbooks Store and save up to 70% on textbook rentals, 90% on used textbooks and 60% on eTextbooks. |
Book Description
In his acclaimed Bowling Alone, Robert Putnam describes the United States as a nation in which we have become increasingly disconnected from one another and in which our social structures have disintegrated. But in the final chapter of that book he detects hopeful signs of civic renewal. In Better Together Putnam and coauthor Lewis Feldstein tell the inspiring stories of people who are reweaving the social fabric by bringing their own communities together or building bridges to others.
Frequently Bought Together
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Putnam's much praised Bowling Alone put the concept of social capital (social networking) into broad currency by remarking on its growing absence. Now the Harvard prof and fellow public policy expert Feldstein approach the issue from the opposite direction: without suggesting communitarianism is sweeping the nation, they offer a dozen case studies of what groups of varying size have accomplished by cultivating networks of mutual assistance. Examples range from a neighborhood subdivision in Boston to an entire Mississippi county as well as the "virtual community" of Craigslist, an online bulletin board that has become the prime "go-to" source for job and apartment listings in San Francisco and elsewhere. The authors stress the importance of participatory involvement, championing networks that create opportunities for people to find their own public voice rather than relying on organizers to speak for them. Thus, one chapter recounts a New Hampshire public arts project in which townspeople's stories created the structure of an interpretive dance about a local shipyard's history; another chapter has schoolchildren in Wisconsin writing to local and state leaders to propose public improvements. Though each group is, as one person puts it, "recreating our neighborhood into the kind of village we want it to be," the book emphasizes no particular approach, juxtaposing the work of local governments with neighborhood associations and churchgoers with union organizers. The overarching argument, supported anecdotally rather than statistically, is tentative-something's going on but it's too early to tell how big it might become-but Putnam's reputation will guarantee the book a hearing.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
Putnam, Harvard professor of public policy, ended his highly acclaimed Bowling Alone (2000) with hints that renewed social activism would soon counteract social alienation in America. In this follow-up, he and his coauthors examine the hopeful signs of reconnection in a variety of organizations, activities, and places demonstrating concerted efforts at reawakening ties between communities and individuals. The authors highlight case studies of building and applying social capital, defined as social networks and mutual assistance. The case studies, based on strong success, longevity, impact, scope, and established reputation, include the rejuvenation of branch libraries in Chicago; an interfaith effort to improve schools in a small Texas town; an arts project recalling the history of a New Hampshire shipyard; and an economic development project in Tupelo, Mississippi. These are not all feel-good stories--some highlight conflict and controversy--but each offers a compelling story of individuals and communities establishing bonds of trust. Readers who enjoyed Bowling Alone will appreciate this inspiring follow-up. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images? |
More About the Author
Robert D. Putnam is the Peter and Isabel Malkin Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University and founder of the Saguaro Seminar, a program dedicated to fostering civic engagement in America. He is the author or coauthor of ten previous books and is former dean of the John F. Kennedy School of Government. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Customer Reviews
Share your thoughts with other customers
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
67 of 74 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
No matter your interest, religious, political, environment, academic, left, right, or center, if you have interest in seeing things change (or stay the same), Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert Putnam and Lewis M. Feldstein, with Don Cohen (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003) is a must read.
Better Together tells the stories of twelve different groups: from a community organization to a church, as well as a dance group and a web site, from a union to a branch library, a Fortune 500 corporation and a neighborhood group, to name a few. The stories hold in common the building up of community, of social capital. It is the best book of general interest that I have read in more than a year.
Putnam addresses a critical aspect of how we are brought together as citizens and neighbors. I cannot stress enough how highly I recommend this book.
11 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Robert Putnam dissected what might be the fraying of American community in "Bowling Alone". Here he and co-authors Lewis Feldstein and Don Cohen look at 12 examples of community.
It's quite interesting to see how, for example, branch libraries became social hubs in Chicago. The vignette of CraigsList is dated only a few years later and, in any event, it is difficult to accept CraigsList as as true example of community. It may have been in its earliest days, but is certainly not now. The depiction of Portland may be a bit blindsided in that Portland's activists seem to be against anything and everything, more like Babbit's than enablers of any kind.
On the whole, though, it's an interesting collection of community endeavors. Not truly a complement to "Bowling Alone", but rather a standalone effort.
Jerry
It's quite interesting to see how, for example, branch libraries became social hubs in Chicago. The vignette of CraigsList is dated only a few years later and, in any event, it is difficult to accept CraigsList as as true example of community. It may have been in its earliest days, but is certainly not now. The depiction of Portland may be a bit blindsided in that Portland's activists seem to be against anything and everything, more like Babbit's than enablers of any kind.
On the whole, though, it's an interesting collection of community endeavors. Not truly a complement to "Bowling Alone", but rather a standalone effort.
Jerry
5 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I had hoped to really like this book, because the theme seemed so pertinent and promising. Instead, I was sadly disappointed. It was very much like watching Oprah. Lots of sunny stories about community turnaround, neatly packaged for consumption, with no individual relevance or useful guidelines for reproducing the effect elsewhere. This is not a book about getting to know your neighbors, or building bridges in your community. Whether this is a failing of the book, or just misleading marketing you can decide.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Darlene
Format:Paperback
I saw this book at Barnes and Noble. I only skimmed it but it does not seem as good- or as depressing- as Bowling Alone. I agree that it is a very relevant theme but I think the authors need to gather more real-world input and not just paint a rosy picture from just a couple of examples. I think that as a writer, you need to take on the hardest and most entrenched issues and then try to dig through them. When you've reached the bottom, then you start to come back up, gathering solutions to the issue and examples of what did and did not work. This book does not go deep enough and it just skips around among various topics and issues. One of the problems with sociological writing today is that it tends to really focus on the problems but not the solutions. So in that way, I feel that this book succeeds. But I guess it just seems hastily put together and in need of more research.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By GTO
Format:Paperback
Wonderful survey of various US groups that have fostered community over time, by the author of Bowling Alone. Groups range from a community dance project in New Hampshire, to student groups making changes in their Wisconsin town, to the city of Portland, a hotbed of community involvement. Some of the examples of community work better than others, with the New Hampshire dance project and the story of a Chicago branch library both being very moving on a human level. Other selections, such as an inter-faith group in Texas and the history of a union at Harvard are more academic and harder to get invested in. The ultimate message is that community can be built, but communication and some strong leaders need to be in place. One conclusion I would question is that civic community needs government involvement to work. The argument behind this conclusion is not spelled out and the book is full of examples where government was not involved, from Saddleback Church to Craigslist, both in California. We do see examples of government being part of the problem, not being response to student's desires in Wisconsin and limiting growth in Portland through green zone initiatives. Still, an interesting cross-section of community around us.
0 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By T. Nelius
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Absolutely inspiring. Breaks away from theory and focuses on real life examples of how people are saving and strengthening their communities all over the US.
0 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By Peter Herzog
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book has been invaluable to me in my research into the growing phenomenon of social isolation many Americans are experiencing. I've noticed this for years and am glad to read that some experts agree. The book was delivered very quickly and in excellent shape. I'm refering to it in my college studies.
36 of 176 people found the following review helpful
By K. Tarin
Format:Hardcover
( women have left the home and family and gone to work!)
((( Insert this every other sentence! )))
figuring out the problem is not hard, its admitting it.
( hint, dont kneejerk and yell hate and sexist, this is a woman writing, who stays home with the kids and whose own mom stayed home with the kids, rem those days? the 60's? oh gee why has everything changed?! you know the answer, just admit it.
A sense of community
We know all about the women who live along Wisteria Lane, but not what's going on with the people who live on our own street. We instant message with strangers around the world while hardly talking to the neighbor next door. We know the middle names of celebrity children, though we have no idea who the kid across the street is.
It's the American way, or perhaps the demise of the American way.
Fewer people know their neighbors, a decline that's been occurring since the late 1960s, according to the book "Better Together: Restoring the American Community," (Simon & Schuster, $15, 336 pages) by Robert Putnam and Lewis Feldstein.
( women have left the home and family and gone to work!)
Since that time, social clubs, civic associations, participation in public affairs and time spent with family, friends and neighbors have all dropped by 25 percent to 50 percent, according to the book.
( women have left the home and family and gone to work!)
And the average American has friends over to dinner about 45 percent less than in the 1970s, according to another of Putnam's books, "Bowling Alone" (Simon & Schuster, $16 paperback, 554 pages).
( women have left the home and family and gone to work!... Read more ›
((( Insert this every other sentence! )))
figuring out the problem is not hard, its admitting it.
( hint, dont kneejerk and yell hate and sexist, this is a woman writing, who stays home with the kids and whose own mom stayed home with the kids, rem those days? the 60's? oh gee why has everything changed?! you know the answer, just admit it.
A sense of community
We know all about the women who live along Wisteria Lane, but not what's going on with the people who live on our own street. We instant message with strangers around the world while hardly talking to the neighbor next door. We know the middle names of celebrity children, though we have no idea who the kid across the street is.
It's the American way, or perhaps the demise of the American way.
Fewer people know their neighbors, a decline that's been occurring since the late 1960s, according to the book "Better Together: Restoring the American Community," (Simon & Schuster, $15, 336 pages) by Robert Putnam and Lewis Feldstein.
( women have left the home and family and gone to work!)
Since that time, social clubs, civic associations, participation in public affairs and time spent with family, friends and neighbors have all dropped by 25 percent to 50 percent, according to the book.
( women have left the home and family and gone to work!)
And the average American has friends over to dinner about 45 percent less than in the 1970s, according to another of Putnam's books, "Bowling Alone" (Simon & Schuster, $16 paperback, 554 pages).
( women have left the home and family and gone to work!... Read more ›
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
So You'd Like to...
Look for Similar Items by Category
- Books > History > Americas > United States > 20th Century
- Books > History > Historical Study & Educational Resources > Social History
- Books > New, Used & Rental Textbooks > Humanities > History > United States
- Books > New, Used & Rental Textbooks > Social Sciences > Anthropology
- Books > New, Used & Rental Textbooks > Social Sciences > Political Science
- Books > New, Used & Rental Textbooks > Social Sciences > Sociology
- Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Anthropology > Cultural
- Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Social Sciences
- Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Sociology > Class
