Putnam picks top books

Port Clinton native Robert Putnam, one of the best known public intellectuals in the U.S., has popped up in the latest issue of "The Week" magazine. Putnam, 79, known for books such as "Bowling Alone," was picked to do "The Book List," a regular feature in which a writer selects best books. Putnam selected six titles: "Democracy in America," Alexis de Tocqueville (1835); "Drift and Mastery," Walter Lippman (1914); "Citizen," Louise Knight (2005); "The Warmth of Other Suns," Isabel Wilkerson (2010); "The Seventies," Bruce Schulman (2001), and "The Common Good," Robert Reich (2018.) About the Reich book, the most recent title he selected, Putnam wrote, "This slim volume is a clear-eyed manifesto reminding Americans of what is possible when we commit to cooperation." Putnam's latest book, "The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again," was released last month. Co-written with Shaylyn Romney Garrett, the book is described by the publisher as "An eminent political scientist's brilliant analysis of economic, social, and political trends over the past century demonstrating how we have gone from an individualistic 'I' society to a more communitarian 'We' society and then back again, and how we can learn from that experience to become a stronger, more unified nation." — Tom Jackson