The End of Solitude, William Deresiewicz
The End of Solitude, William Deresiewicz
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The End of Solitude
Selected Essays on Culture and Society

Author: William Deresiewicz

Narrator: Eric Jason Martin

Unabridged: 12 hr 58 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 08/23/2022


Synopsis

What is the Internet doing to us? What is college for? What are the myths and metaphors we live by? What is the purpose of art, and what can we learn from the past?

These are the questions that William Deresiewicz has been pursuing over the course of his award-winning career. In "The Disadvantages of an Elite Education," his viral piece from 2008, he sounded the alarm about the Ivy League admissions frenzy and the kind of student it produces. In "Solitude and Leadership," his 2009 address at West Point he issued an early warning about the threats from social media to our inner lives. In "On Political Correctness," from 2017, he dissected the culture of ideological intolerance that has spread, since then, from campus to society at large.

The End of Solitude brings together these and more than forty other essays from such publications as Harper's and the Atlantic and introduces four that are published here for the first time. Drawing on the past, they ask how we got where we are. Scrutinizing the present, they seek to understand how we can live more mindfully, more meaningfully, more freely. Behind their questions lies a fundamental one: What does it mean to be an individual, and how can we sustain our individuality in an age of networks and groups?

About William Deresiewicz

William Deresiewicz is an award-winning essayist and critic, frequent speaker at colleges and other venues, and former professor of English at Yale. His writing has appeared in the Atlantic, Harper's, the New York Times, the American Scholar, and many other publications. He is the recipient of a National Book Critics Circle award for excellence in reviewing and is the New York Times bestselling author of Excellent Sheep, The Death of the Artist, and A Jane Austen Education.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Stetson

Our culture is scientistic: it believes that science is the only form of truth, that there is only one way of knowing: objective, empirical, quantitative. But our culture also displays... what I have come to think of as the engineering mentality. My first exposure to William Deresiewicz stretches bac......more

Goodreads review by Kaiju

3.5 stars rounded up. The End of Solitude is a collection of essays broken into parts by subject matter. The first two parts, Technology Culture and Higher Education contain excellent essays, though not prescriptive ones. Deresiewicz's insights into the failures of modern society are accurate and oft......more

Goodreads review by Jamie

I won this on GoodReads. A lot of what Mr. Deresiewicz says about our cultural and society in this set of essays is right on the nose. These essays make you think and consider and even perhaps, change a few things in how you interact with those in your circle and society. This is a good read.......more

Goodreads review by Anaïs

“We have lost the capacity for idleness.” A lyrical analysis comprised of short stories outlining culture, explaining modernism by reflecting on history, and how we are replacing and redefining the meaning of solitude in the era of constant connectedness. Deresiewicz begins by exploring philosophical......more