A Newsletter Summer Break!

American Storylines is going on hiatus. The pause will allow me to finish work on my book.

American Storylines is taking a summer break. I know it’s only May, but at least in Washington D.C., it already feels like summer—we’re getting 80+ degree days regularly, and random rainstorms that surprise even those who aggressively monitor doppler radar.

It was a difficult decision to make. I published my first Substack newsletter on Sept. 30, 2021, titled “Why Increasing COVID-19 Fatalities May Not Sway the Unvaccinated,” and have published them biweekly ever since. To date, I’ve written nearly 100 newsletters on a variety of topics, including the class divide in religious attendance, pornography use, and dating challenges. These posts reflected my own interests and the work we were doing at the Survey Center on American Life.

In the beginning, I was not sure whether readers would be interested in less personal and more analytical content about topics like dating, relationships and marriage. At the very least, I figured it would provide me with an opportunity to explore interesting patterns and highlight curious trends in real time. By that measure, it exceeded all my expectations. A couple years ago, I wrote a post titled “The Political Gender Gap is Exploding,” which was an attempt to make sense of the growing ideological divide between young men and women. To my knowledge, this was the very first research that identified the emerging political gap among young adults.

This pattern began to emerge in other data and was not limited to political identity. In another survey, we found the gap in feminist identity was largest among Generation Z. Folks started to take notice, and reporters started making inquiries. A literary agent reached out to ask whether I had considered writing a book on the topic. I had not. A year later, I signed a contract with Penguin Random House to write Uncoupled. I’ve been working on the project for nearly six months, but I still have a long way to go.

The newsletter has been an important part of my work, but it's also time consuming. I can’t speak for other writers on this platform, but the posts I write take time. The research, analysis, data visualization, and writing are not things I can do in a couple of hours. My original goal was to continue writing the newsletter while working on the book, but that was probably too ambitious. I want not only to finish the project on time, but—more importantly—to produce something that contributes to a conversation that feels so disjointed to me.

I’m grateful to all my readers, especially those willing to financially support the publication. As a token of my appreciation, I will be offering free copies of the book to all annual subscribers as well as monthly subscribers who have been with me for at least 6 months. For now, I've paused all paid subscriptions.

We have so much exciting research on tap, including a major study on social trust, a survey exploring American vices, and a major research project on artificial intelligence. I’m incredibly fortunate to be in the position to focus on so many different topics that I find interesting and to have the support to follow them where they lead.

I look forward to reconnecting with you in the fall. I imagine I’ll have a lot to say.

Have a great summer,

Dan