collective behavior

Explores the phenomenom of social contagion by examining the conditions under which five Palo Alto, California, high school students died by suicide in a six month period by stepping in front of an oncoming train; unlocks the mystery of how ideas spread and why they take hold; and offers thoughts on our responsibility to one another.

Traces the history of the American crowd in the United States from anti-colonial revolts to the crowds of the twenty-first century that fill sports arenas, commercial centers, and workplaces, describing how crowds have aided in the establishment of democracy, civil rights, and free speech rights, and discussing more dangerous forms such as lynch mobs and anti-immigrant riots.

Explains how people can better understand the simplicity of human behavior by studying patterns in day-to-day fluctuations in the same way physicists observe atoms.

Investigates the history of sanctioned public revelry, from the Dionysian winter dance to twenty-first-century sporting events and concerts, looking at attempts by churches and other institutions to squelch ecstatic displays, and concluding that humans are inately social beings prone to sharing joy.