We are living in a time of deep divisions. Americans are sorting themselves along racial, religious, and cultural lines, leading to a level of polarization that the country hasn’t seen since the Civil War. Pundits and politicians are calling for us to come together and find a common purpose. But how, exactly, can this be done? You can also check out this title as eBook on OverDrive/Libby or as eAudio on OverDrive/Libby.

As Klinenberg demonstrates in this incisive and gripping account of the contemporary urban condition, the widening cracks in the social foundations of American cities that the 1995 Chicago heat wave made visible have by no means subsided as the temperatures returned to normal. The forces that affected Chicago so disastrously remain in play in America’s cities, and we ignore them at our peril.

With eye-opening statistics, original data, and vivid portraits of people who go solo, Klinenberg upends conventional wisdom to deliver the definitive take on how the rise of living alone is transforming the American experience. Going Solo is a powerful and necessary assessment of an unprecedented social change. You can also check out this title as eAudio on OverDrive/Libby.

Drawing on vast new data that reveal Americans’ changing behavior, Putnam shows how we have become increasingly disconnected from one another and how social structures–whether they be PTA, church, or political parties–have disintegrated. You can also check out this title as eBook on OverDrive/Libby.

A wide-ranging exploration of our inner lives and public selves, Kristen Radtke digs into the ways in which we attempt to feel closer to one another, and the distance that remains. Through the lenses of gender and violence, technology and art, Radtke ushers us through a history of loneliness and longing, and shares what feels impossible to share.

Stretching beyond the successes and challenges of universal design since the inception of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990 and its amendment in 2008, Inclusive Design: A Universal Need details how an inclusive approach to design creates an accessible and aesthetically pleasing environment for a total population-not just the aging or differently abled.

At some point, every one of us embarks on a journey to find love. We meet people, date, get into and out of relationships, all with the hope of finding someone with whom we share a deep connection. This seems standard now, but it’s wildly different from what people did even just decades ago. Single people today have more romantic options than at any point in human history. With technology, our abilities to connect with and sort through these options are staggering. So why are so many people frustrated? You can also check out this title as eBook on OverDrive/Libby or as eAudio on OverDrive/Libby.

From the coauthor of the New York Times bestseller The Second Machine Age, a compelling argument–masterfully researched and brilliantly articulated–that we have at last learned how to increase human prosperity while treading more lightly on our planet. You can also check out this title as eAudio on OverDrive/Libby. 

When celebrated landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted despaired in 1870 that the “restraining and confining conditions” of the city compelled its inhabitants to “look closely upon others without sympathy,” he was expressing what many in the United States had already been saying about the nascent urbanization that would continue to transform the nation’s landscape: that the modern city dramatically changes the way individuals interact with and feel toward one another.

In this important collection, eighteen renowned writers, including David Remnick, Zadie Smith, Rebecca Skloot, Rory Stewart, and Adam Gopnik evoke the spirit and history of some of the world’s most recognized and significant city squares, accompanied by illustrations from equally distinguished photographers.

A lively, captivating investigation into the infrastructure that makes society possible.

Nationwide, more and more entrepreneurs are committing themselves to creating and running “third places,” also known as “great good places.” In his landmark work, The Great Good Place, Ray Oldenburg identified, portrayed, and promoted those third places. You can also check out this title as eBook on OverDrive/Libby.

In Within Walking Distance , journalist and urban critic Philip Langdon looks at why and how Americans are shifting toward a more human-scale way of building and living.

How We Show Up returns us to our inherent connectedness where we find strength, safety, and support in vulnerability and generosity, in asking for help, and in being accountable. You can also check out this title as eBook on OverDrive/Libby or as eAudio on OverDrive/Libby.