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S W A R T H M O R E C O L L E G E B U L L E T I N B O O K S & A U T H O R S52B o w l i n gRobert D. Putnam ’63, BowlingAlone: The Collapse and Revival ofAmerican Community, New York,Simon & Schuster, 2000Robert Putnam’s new book haseagerly been awaited since 1995,when he first coined his famousmetaphor for civic disengagement.Remember the black-and-white scenesin the movie Pleasantville, depicting abowling league of scared traditionalists?That was a sarcastic allusion to Putnam’sidea that America is more andmore “bowling alone.” Putnam assertedthat even though bowling remainedpopular, bowling in leagues is disappearing,and a similar mutual disengagementhas occurred in almost everyaspect of our social and political life.But despite the anticipatory buzz,Bowling Alone has received somewhatmixed, if generally respectful, reviews,even though Putnam has definitivelydocumented his claim. The long wait forthe book surely has something to dowith this, for expectations could nothave been higher. But there is more atwork here. This is a book that deliverssome bad news. Are the mixed reviewsa case of healthy skepticism, or are theyinstead whistling past the graveyard?Bowling Alone is overflowing withreams of fresh data, laboriously collected,analyzed, and presented. Putnam’shandling of these data is assured andremarkably more sprightly than anyother work of social science that presentsthis many new facts and numbers.But there is a ton of stuff here to digest.In the aggregate, Putnam shows thatby percentages and degrees—whichare, in social-science terms, quite enormous—Americanshave indeed stoppedbeing as civic, philanthropic, religious,trustful, participatory, and sociable asthey used to be. He is as good a socialscientist as they come, so he checkedeverything there is to check. And themore he checked, the more he realizedhe was right.Having proved his thesis with thesedata, Putnam then explores why thishuge behavioral change has happened.Many factors are at work. Increasedfreedom to travel, greater economicA l o n eP U B L I C S E R V I C E T H R O U G H S O C I A L S C I E N C ETHIS BOOK DELIVERS SOME BAD NEWS:AMERICANS HAVE STOPPED BEING AS CIVIC,PHILANTHROPIC, RELIGIOUS, TRUSTFUL, PARTICI-PATORY, AND SOCIABLE AS THEY USED TO BE.opportunity, and new forms of massentertainment are all statistically associatedwith the overall change in behavior.Then there are the changes thathave swept through the workplace,such as flextime, frequent job or careerchanges, unpaid white-collar overtime,and two-career families with adolescentsin the workforce. There isn’t a lotof time and energy left for being civic oreven sociable and religious.Suburbanization also plays a rolebecause it promotes residential seclusionand involves a lot of commutingtime. New communications technologies,particularly the spread of television,keep people sedentary and athome for long stretches of time.Here some of his critics say, in effect,“Gee, you want to give all that up?”Repeatedly, however, Putnam politelynotes that he is not yearning for timesgone by. The real issue, he points out, iscreatively responding to the impact ofour changed circumstances, not gettingrid of the circumstances themselves.A subtler point often overlooked bycritics is that some changes have hadfar more of an effect than others. HerePutnam gets to the part that is hardestto take: We’re the problem. You andme—and just about everybody you andI know. Causally, the most importantindependent variable “explaining”behavioral change is generationalchange. Why we baby boomers andGeneration Xers are different Putnamdoesn’t say. That would be a separatebook, but there are many possibilities:prosperity, perhaps, or the completionof nation-building tasks, or the impacton character of consumerism.The ultimate question is: Does it matter?What real price is there to pay forthese changes in our habits? Has thereever been a time when America had itbetter? We’re the richest country onearth; everyone in the world wants tomove here; and if they can’t move here,they want to watch the television showsand movies we make.Or so the case against worrying toomuch about this book’s message mightgo. The philosopher Alan Ryan, reviewingPutnam’s book in The New YorkReview of Books, pointed out that suchperceptions may explain why there hasbeen less buzz about Bowling Alonethan one might have expected. Ultimately,though, this book is going tohave a great impact—and for a simplereason: It’s superb social science. It is atowering achievement comparable withGunnar Myrdal’s An American Dilemma.Such an extraordinary book couldonly come from an extraordinary person.It says a great deal about Putnam’sself-discipline and the clarity of hisinsight and thought that, despite theextremely high expectations of hiswork, he did not dither in getting it out.As Paul Starr, the Princeton sociologist,pointed out in The New Republic, thisbook is itself an act of civic engagement.I like to think that Swarthmore hadsomething to do with that. Learningpolitical science at Swarthmore mighthave introduced Putnam to the idea ofpublic service through social science. Ifso, he has finally brought that ethic toexemplary fruition.—Rick Valelly ’75Professor of Political Science
Margaret Lavinia Anderson’63, Practicing Democracy: Electionsand Political Culture inImperial Germany, PrincetonUniversity Press, 2000. This pictureof electoral culture in ImperialGermany discusses manhood suffragein a hierarchical society in 1867and how it resulted in an increasinglydemocratic culture before 1914.Ellen Argyros ’83, “Without Any Checkof Proud Reserve”: Sympathy and Its Limitsin George Eliot’s Novels, Studies in19th-Century British Literature, vol. 8,Peter Lang, 1999. This book describesthe literary and philosophical influenceson George Eliot’s conception ofsympathy.Russell Cartwright Stroup, Letters Fromthe Pacific: A Combat Chaplain in WorldWar II, edited with an introduction byRichard Cartwright Austin ’56, Universityof Missouri Press, 2000. This book,from a chaplain’s perspective, offersinsights into the effects of war.Bernard Beitman ’64, The Psychotherapist’sGuide to Cost Containment: How toSurvive and Thrive in an Age of ManagedCare, Sage Publications, 1998. Theauthor discusses the new economicorder—managed care—and outlinespotential solutions.David Bressoud ’71, A Course in ComputationalNumber Theory, Key CollegePublishing, 2000. This textbook, accompaniedby a CD-ROM, is a one-semesterintroduction to number theory.Andrew Maikovich and Michele Brown’76 (eds.), Sports Quotations: Maxims,Quips, and Pronouncements for Writersand Fans, 2nd ed., McFarland and Co.,2000. This updated collection of nearly3,000 sports quotations is divided into27 major sports categories.John Cheydleur ’66, Called to Counsel,Tyndale House Publishers, 1999. Thisbook, with a biblical framework, is atool for anyone counseling those in crises.Liza (Crihfield) Dalby ’72, The Tale ofMurasaki, Nan A. Talese/Doubleday,2000. The author presents a “literaryarchaeology” in recreating the life ofLady Murasaki Shikibu, member of theJapanese Imperial Court and author ofThe Tale of Genji.Linda Gordon ’61, The Great ArizonaOrphan Abduction, Harvard UniversityPress, 1999. Evoking the daily lives ofinhabitants of an Arizona mining town,R E C E N TB O O K Sthe author describes the racial boundariesalong the Mexican border.Kevin Hassett ’84 and R. Glenn Hubbard,The Magic Mountain: A Guide toDefining and Using a Budget Surplus, AEIPress, 1999. This book examines measuringa budget deficit or surplus.Won-Ldy Paye and Margaret (Hodgkin)Lippert ’64, Why Leopard Has Spots:Dan Stories From Liberia, Fulcrum Publishing,1998. This collection of authenticfolktales introduces the vibrant Danculture of Liberia.Lowell Livezey ’66, Public Religion andUrban Transformation: Faith in the City,New York University Press, 2000. Theauthor examines the changing Americanmetropolis and ways church leadersand members cope.Michael Meeropol ’64, Surrender: Howthe Clinton Administration Completed theReagan Revolution, The University ofMichigan Press, 2000. In an examinationof myth, propaganda, and economic illusion,the author analyzes the last twodecades of economic policy.Lise Menn ’62 and Nan Berstein Ratner(eds.), Methods for Studying LanguageProduction, Lawrence Earlbaum Associates,2000. This book presents approachesto collecting language productiondata from children and young adults.Marcus Noland ’81, Avoiding the Apocalypse:The Future of the Two Koreas,Institute for International Economics,2000. This study examines the twoKoreas in terms of three major crises.Arielle North Olson ’53 and HowardSchwartz, Ask the Bones: Scary StoriesFrom Around the World, Viking, 1999.Two master storytellers retell 22 of theworld’s eeriest folktales.Lewis Pyenson ’69 (ed.), Memory: Pastand Future, Graduate School, Universityof Louisiana at Lafayette, 2000. Thisbook contains proceedings of the fifthgraduate colloquium at the Universityof Louisiana at Lafayette.Thomas Preston ’55, Final Victory: TakingCharge of Your life When You Knowthe End Is Near, Prima Publishing, 2000.The author provides information aboutways to reduce suffering in preparationfor a peaceful, dignifieddeath.Karen Eanet and Julia (Battin)Rauch ’57, Genetics and GeneticServices: A Child Welfare Worker’sGuide, Child Welfare League of America,2000. This book helps professionalsinvolved with families dealing withgenetic disorders.Mary McDermott Shideler ’38, The Reconciling:Stage V in Visions and Nightmares,Ends and Beginnings—AWoman’s Lifelong Journey, ScribendiPress, 2000. The late author examinesher struggle to create a new identity asa single woman facing her 70s and 80s.Matthew Sommer ’83, Sex, Law, andSociety in Late Imperial China, StanfordUniversity Press, 2000. This study of theregulation of sexuality during the Qingdynasty explores the social context forsexual behavior criminalized by the Chinesestate.James Finckenauer and Elin Waring ’81,Russian Mafia in America: Immigration,Culture, and Crime, Northeastern UniversityPress, 1998. Examining Russianorganized crime both in Russia and theUnited States, this book investigates the“Russian Mafia.”Chuck Collins and Felice Yeskel M’79,Economic Apartheid in America: APrimer on Economic Inequality and Insecurity,The New York Press, 2000. Thisbook examines changes in income andwealth distribution.IN OTHER MEDIAJo Francis ’72 and John Fuegi, In theSymphony of the World: A Portrait ofHildegard of Bingen, Flare Productionsand Foreningen Casablanca, 1999. Thisdocumentary depicts the medieval spiritualleader’s contributions to music,poetry, biology, and medicine.Kiki (Skagen) Munshi ’65 (producer),Rama Lall Bhopa: Ballads of Rajasthan,Roop Nivas Palace Hotel, 1999. This CDoffers a selection of ballads that areaccompanied by the “ravanhatha,” asimple folk instrument.Roger Youman ’53, Tuscan Notes,MightyWords.com, 2000. This e-book,based on the experiences of a journalistwho has covered Italy for 20 years,offers practical tips on sites in Tuscany.S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 053
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