Sociologist Robert Nisbet declared our era to be “singularly weak” in social inventiveness. In a new book on local solutions to America’s social ills, author Seth Kaplan agrees—with some exceptions. “Our modern era is not the first one in which the U.S. has weathered rapid social change,” Kaplan writes, “but it’s the first time we have endured it without the kind of social innovation needed to mitigate the ill effects of that pelting change.”
In Fragile Neighborhoods: Repairing American Society, One Zip Code at a Time, Kaplan calls for a quiet revolution in American life—from the way government and nonprofits provide services to the way its people conceive of their dreams and aspirations. His book features a handful of individuals and organizations in the vanguard of that revolutionary action and shares practical steps for how you can join.
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