The One and the Ninety-Nine: Forging Identity in the Age of Social Contagion

A Next Big Idea Club Must-Read and an Our Culture Most Anticipated Book of Summer 2026

It's not hard to find your tribe. The real challenge today is not losing yourself within one.

We are surrounded by tribes: political, professional, online, ideological. Each offer belonging at a price. Join, and you risk dissolving into a ready-made identity. Refuse, and you risk drifting into isolation. Either way, the modern person is pulled toward the same end: forming a fragmented self that is easier to...