The shelf · History of the shelf

Does The Lonely City hold up?

The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone, by Olivia Laing (2016)

A study of loneliness in New York through the lives and work of Edward Hopper, Andy Warhol, David Wojnarowicz and Henry Darger.

The short answer

A book about loneliness rather than living alone, which the research treats as a different thing. It rests on biography and criticism, not on figures to check.

The claims, checked

No claim in this book could be matched to an official record that measures the same thing, so none is given a verdict.