Boston College Front Row

"A growing number of 20- and 30-somethings have come to view living alone as a key part of the transition to adulthood," says NYU sociology professor Eric Klinenberg, editor of the journal Public Culture, and author of the forthcoming book Alone in America. Klinenberg traces the history and sociology of solitary living in urban America, from the days of immigrant boarding houses at the turn of the 20th century, to today, when 40 percent of unmarried people ages 20 to 29 live away from their parents.