The Pursuit of Loneliness: America's Discontent and the Search for a New Democratic Ideal [Paperback]

In a classic indictment of American individualism and isolationism, Philip Slater analyzes the great ills of modern society-violence, competitiveness, inequality, and the national 'addiction' to technology. The Pursuit of Loneliness is still worth reading because it honors the mission of sociology not to train a caste of knowers but to contribute to society's knowledge of itself. – from the introduction by Todd Gitlin

If I had to select a single book by which to tell a stranger what life in this country has become and why, it would be this one. – Edgar Z. Friedenberg in The New York Review of Books

A brilliant, sweeping and revelant critique ... An insightful, well-written, and thought-provoking book that illumines each of the many aspects of American culture that it touches. –  Kenneth Keniston in The New York TimesPhilip Slater lives in Santa Cruz, California. 
Todd Gitlin is professor of sociology at the University of California/Berkeley.US