The Lonely Crowd: A Study of the Changing American Character

David Riesman · Nathan Glazer · Reuel Denney

Feb 2001 · Yale University Press

About this ebook

The Lonely Crowd is considered by many to be the most influential book of the twentieth century. Its now-classic analysis of the “new middle class” in terms of inner-directed and other-directed social character opened exciting new dimensions in our understanding of the psychological, political, and economic problems that confront the individual in contemporary American society. The 1969 abridged and revised edition of the book is now reissued with a new foreword by Todd Gitlin that explains why the book is still relevant to our own era.

“As accessible as it is acute, The Lonely Crowd is indispensable reading for anyone who wishes to understand American society. After half a century, this book has lost none of its capacity to make sense of how we live.” —Todd Gitlin

Praise for the earlier editions:

"One of the most penetrating and comprehensive views of the twentieth-century urban American you're likely to find." —Commonweal

"Brilliant and original." —Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.

About the author

David Riesman is Henry Ford II Professor of Social Sciences Emeritus at Harvard University. Nathan Glazer is emeritus professor of education and sociology structure at Harvard University. Reuel Denney was emeritus professor of English at the University of Hawaii. Todd Gitlin is professor of culture, journalism, and sociology at New York University and the author of The Sixties, The Twilight of Common Dreams, and two novels, most recently Sacrifice.