- Published: November 14, 1979
We, the Lonely People explores the loss of community in America. It considers the ways in which we are trying to rediscover a sense of community in rock concerts that become family for a few hours, shopping malls where we search for familiar faces, and talk shows with familiar voices. Instead of settling for “throwaway intimacy,” Keyes encourages readers to become more direct about their need for one another and cultivate the communities that are already sprouting in laundromats, self-help groups and corner pubs.
- Psychology Today Book Club selection
- excerpted in Intellectual Digest, The Rotarian, National Elementary Principal, Quote, Newsday
Ralph Keyes, as sensitive a young writer as the country has today, knows what America has lost in the name of progress and affluence. When I read this book there stirred in me the hope that we might get it back. This is more than a fine book; it’s a must.
Bill Moyers
This is a mosaic of hundreds of bits — small personal experiences, keen observations, ‘happenings’ and events described by friends and others. Only gradually does the reader realize that the mosaic is a picture, powerful and profound. Keyes holds up a mirror to our modern fractionated society and its isolated individuals. He provides no final answers, but he has given us a provocative book one does not forget.
Carl Rogers