2024 Best Indie Book Award Winner 2025 Nautilus Silver Award Winner We are all settlers on our own personal frontiers. It’s our national way of life. Individualism. America has now taken individualism to its logical extreme like no other society on Earth. And the results are mixed. Radical autonomy without wisdom and lots of social support is a dangerous gift. It can even become a curse of self-destruction. This book explores how individualism affects the five major domains of American life that comprise 80% of our waking time - work, fun, food, friends, and family. Using fresh national research on older Americans' life experiences, his training as a cultural anthropologist, and his own awkward life experiences, Dr. Richardson has crafted a first-of-its-kind social history of the late 20th century and what it yielded to us as a nation. Part One - How to Make a Hyper-Individualistic Society in Seven Easy Steps Part Two - How It Became Awkward at Work Part Three - How We Got Lost in the American Fun-house Part Four - How We Came To Eat Whatever, Whenever Part Five - How We Turned Friends into Entertainment Devices Part Six - The Atomization of the American Family Part Seven - The Future of Individualism in America Dr. Richardson argues that individualism is not an inevitable way of life. We can take our gifts of autonomy and calibrate them to a more community-oriented future. We have to truly understand what we have before we make changes we would regret as a country. Using a unique combination of accessible wit, statistics, and anthropological inference, this is far from a dry social science read. "Moving, thoughtful and mind-expanding." — JOHANN HARI , NEW YORK TIMES BEST-SELLING AUTHOR OF LOST CONNECTIONS AND CHASING THE SCREAM "An astute examination of loneliness and isolation that sheds light, finds humor, and provides hope." — KIRKUS REVIEWS RECOMMENDED BOOK ". . . an invaluable book for understanding the hidden costs of American individualism." — ROB HENDERSON, USA TODAY BEST-SELLING AUTHOR OF TROUBLED: A MEMOIR OF FOSTER CARE, FAMILY AND SOCIAL CLASS "A moving portrait of the loneliness embedded in everyday American life and a powerful warning to younger generations to course correct." — JENNIFER BREHENY WALLACE, NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF NEVER ENOUGH: WHEN ACHIEVEMENT CULTURE BECOMES TOXIC—AND WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT IT "James F. Richardson's Our Worst Strength is a comprehensive and highly entertaining examination of the impact of our unprecedented explosion of lifestyle choices. With humor and care, Dr. Richardson thoughtfully charts the rapid change in social circumstances and attitudes that are contributing to our widespread sense of disconnection. This book is essential reading for anyone looking to better understand the pervasive influence of individualism in modern culture." — ANNA GOLDFARB, CALLED THE "NEW YORK TIMES' FRIENDSHIP CORRESPONDENT" AND AUTHOR OF MODERN FRIENDSHIP: HOW TO NURTURE OUR MOST VALUED CONNECTIONS "Richardson's a shrewd, witty, sometimes outraged observer who urges readers to approach individualistic impulses more critically." — BOOKLIFE REVIEWS (BY PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY) "Dr Richardson takes us through an amazing and alarming look in the mirror as a society. As a keen observer of human behavior, James is able to find context and simplify the complexity of answering the question—'how did we get here?' in an engaging, provocative, and well thought out prose." — APU MODY—CPG ANGEL INVESTOR/ADVISOR AND FORMER PRESIDENT MARS FOOD AMERICAS "Our Worst Strength is an exemplary work that makes the familiar strange, enabling us to see one of our most cherished American traditions— individualism—with new eyes. Dr. James Richardson not only reveals the historical specificity and psycho-cultural impacts of individualistic norms but also serves the public interest by illuminating how they shape some of our greatest societal challenges, enabling us to critically evaluate and ultimately transform the values that govern our lives." — DR. VICTOR BRAITBERG, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF PRACTICE AND ANTHROPOLOGY, W.A. FRANKE HONORS COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA "James F. Richardson writes a witty and insightful personal take and social analysis of the role of American individualism and the damage it can do to individuals in the complex alienating industrial-consumer society that constitutes the over-extended techno-modernist culture we live in today. It is well worth a read for anyone trying to make their way in the U.S. today." - ROBERT MACNEIL CHRISTIE, PHD. AUTHOR OF HOPEFUL REALISM: A CLIMATE MANIFESTO, AND PROFESSOR EMERITUS OF SOCIOLOGY, FOUNDING DIRECTOR, URBAN COMMUNITY RESEARCH CENTER CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, DOMINGUEZ HILLS