he is currently reading robert putnam's the up swing. the year of our lord 1943. it is the next book. they are known with bullying alone. it described the breakdown of the american civic institutions. and the rise of loneliness. as the century dawns one of the great social observers of american life. it was supposed to be out this summer. it has been delayed a little bit to the fall. it actually looks at a subject we took up earlier. the pattern of communitarianism and individualism in the course of the past century. it shows a coming together and then a pulling apart. also immigration and cultural diversity. also economic inequality. and the conditions of many of our institutions. you find it was intensely individualistic. immobilized in the direction of solidarity in the middle of the 20th century and then began to pull apart. and now were at another extreme. it's good to be a very important book. it will be out in a few months i guess. alan jacobs has written some wonderful books. about the intersection of intellectual life and theology. this book the year of o