Welcome to the Club

Ada Calhoun found herself suddenly aimless after a life spent hustling thanks to a series of major, yet common, life changes: Her son left for college, she got divorced, and her father passed away. After so many years of caring for and centering others, she was now blessed (or saddled) with more time and autonomy than she could handle. What was she supposed to do?

In a culture that teaches us to defer pleasure, glorify productivity, and prioritize our obligations to others and our work, is it possible to rewire our instincts when it comes to connection and success? In the spirit of so many other seekers, Calhoun transformed her question into a quest and project, one that, coincidentally, dovetails with subjects grabbing national headlines: Are we living through a loneliness epidemic? In the age of social media, how do we forge in-person connection and community?

The answer to our contemporary dilemmas could be a squarely twentieth-century solution: clubs.

So Calhoun spent a year saying yes to as many clubs as she could find—mah-jongg groups, Daughters of the American Revolution, LARPing, book clubs, and so many more—and throwing herself headlong into their histories and sociological underpinnings. In diving into dozens of different “third spaces,” Ada provides a twenty-first-century map to navigating age-old sociological and psychological challenges like weathering life transitions, resisting isolation and inertia, and building a social safety net. Every generation must face the question of “What now?” It’s our turn, and Ada Calhoun knows the way.