Beneficial networking

Better Together

Restoring the American Community

By Robert D. Putnam and Lewis M. Feldstein

Simon and Schuster. 318p $26.95

ISBN 0743235460

With another presidential election looming on the horizon, voter turnout will be a major public issue. Political participation, however, is just one measure of civic engagement and social capital. Other measures, ranging from volunteering and religious leadership to civic leadership and trust between races, are also vital community assets. This territory was explored in considerable detail when Robert Putnam published Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community in 2000.

Writing in Bowling Alone, Putnam, a political ...

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