(1940-)

Robert Putnam is the Peter and Isabel Malkin Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University, where he teaches classes in American politics and International Relations. Founder of the Saguaro Seminar, a program studying how to build community in today's diverse society, Putnam continues to research ways in which to encourage Americans to be involved in their communities and build "social capital." He is the author of several books, including Democracies in Flux: The Evolution of Social Capital in Contemporary Society (2002) and his most recent work with Lewis Feldstein Better Together: Restoring the American Community (2003).

Harvard Gazette Archives

Saguaro Seminar

"from Bowling Alone" (2000)