With eye-opening statistics, original data, and vivid portraits of people who go solo, Klinenberg upends the conventional wisdom to deliver the definitive take on how the rise of living alone is transforming the American experience.

Presents a cultural history of independent single women between the 1920s and the 1950s through the reclaimed life of glamorous guru Marjorie Hillis. "You've met the extra woman: she's sophisticated, she lives comfortably alone, she pursues her passions unabashedly, and--contrary to society's suspicions--she really is happy. Despite multiple waves of feminist revolution, today's single woman is still mired in judgment or, worse, pity. But for a brief...

Grumpy loner Wolf just wants to be alone, but whether it is at school, the movies, or the beach, there always seems to be someone bothering him.