Zócalo book prize to Richard Sennett’s 'Together'

"Together: The Rituals, Pleasures and Politics of Cooperation" has won the second annual Zócalo Public Square Book Prize, "presented to the author of the work of nonfiction that most effectively deepens our understanding of community." Author Richard Sennett will accept and deliver a lecture, “Can Diverse Societies Cohere?,” at MOCA on April 13.

Sennett first experienced complex cooperation when he was a young musician studying with legends like the conductor Pierre Monteux. He has since become a sociologist, novelist, and professor at the London School of Economics, among many other things. He’s been an acclaimed author ever since his early books "The Uses Of Disorder," a study of identity and city life, and "The Hidden Injuries Of Class," a study of how the effects of class go far beyond material things. All along, however, his interest in craftsmanship and cooperation has endured. Cooperation, he believes, is a craft that diverse societies can, and must, learn.