Coming Apart

The State of White America, 1960-2010

Charles Murray

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English

Crown Publishers
15 January 2013

History; Ethnic studies

From the bestselling author of Losing Ground and The Bell Curve, Coming Apart is a harrowing portrait of the haves and have-nots of white America.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER . A fascinating explanation for why white America has become fractured and divided in education and class, from the acclaimed author of Human Diversity.

""I'll be shocked if there's another book that so compellingly describes the most important trends in American society.""-David Brooks, New York Times

In Coming Apart, Charles Murray explores the formation of American classes that are different in kind from anything we have ever known, focusing on whites as a way of driving home the fact that the trends he describes do not break along lines of race or ethnicity.

Drawing on five decades of statistics and research, Coming Apart demonstrates that a new upper class and a new lower class have diverged so far in core behaviors and values that they barely recognize their underlying American kinship-divergence that has nothing to do with income inequality and that has grown during good economic times and bad.

The top and bottom of white America increasingly live in different cultures, Murray argues, with the powerful upper class living in enclaves surrounded by their own kind, ignorant about life in mainstream America, and the lower class suffering from erosions of family and community life that strike at the heart of the pursuit of happiness. That divergence puts the success of the American project at risk.

The evidence in Coming Apart is about white America. Its message is about all of America.

By: Charles Murray
Imprint: Crown Publishers
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 203mm, Width: 131mm, Spine: 23mm
Weight: 306g
ISBN: 9780307453433
ISBN 10: 030745343X
Pages: 416
Publication Date: 15 January 2013
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Prologue: November 21, 1963 1 Part I The Formation of a New Upper Class 1. Our Kind of People 2. The Foundations of the New Upper Class 3. A New Kind of Segregation 4. How Thick Is Your Bubble? 5. The Bright Side of the New Upper Class Part II The Formation of a New Lower Class 6. The Founding Virtues 7. Belmont and Fishtown 8. Marriage 9. Industriousness 10. Honesty 11. Religiosity 12. The Real Fishtown 13. The Size of the New Lower Class Part III Why It Matters 14. The Selective Collapse of American Community 15. The Founding Virtues and the Stuff of Life 16. One Nation, Divisible 17. Alternative Futures Acknowledgments Appendix A: Data Sources and Presentation Appendix B: Supplemental Material for the Segregation Chapter Appendix C: Supplemental Material for the Chapter on Belmont and Fishtown Appendix D: Supplemental Material for the Marriage Chapter Appendix E: Supplemental Material for the Honesty Chapter Appendix F: Supplemental Material for the American Community Chapter Appendix G: Supplemental Material for the Chapter About the Founding Virtues and the Stuff of Life Notes Bibliography Index

CHARLES MURRAY is the W. H. Brady Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. He first came to national attention in 1984 with Losing Ground. His subsequent books include In Pursuit, The Bell Curve (with Richard J. Herrnstein), What It Means to Be a Libertarian, Human Accomplishment, In Our Hands, and Real Education. He received a bachelor's degree in history from Harvard and a Ph.D. in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He lives with his wife in Burkittsville, Maryland.

Reviews for Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010

I ll be shocked if there s another book this year as important as Charles Murray s 'Coming Apart.' --David Brooks, TheNew York Times Mr. Murray's sobering portrait is of a nation where millions of people are losing touch with the founding virtues that have long lent American lives purpose, direction and happiness. --W. Bradford Wilcox, The Wall Street Journal 'Coming Apart: The State of White America 1960-2010' brims with ideas about what ails America. --The Economist a timely investigation into a worsening class divide no one can afford to ignore. --Publisher's Weekly [Charles Murray] argues for the need to focus on what has made the U.S. exceptional beyond its wealth and military power...religion, marriage, industriousness, and morality. --Booklist (Starred Review) Charles Murray ... has written an incisive, alarming, and hugely frustrating book about the state of American society. --Roger Lowenstein, Bloomberg Businessweek