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The documentary, Join or Die, begins with a tour of the Odd Fellows Hall in Waxahatchee, Texas.

This is lodge number 80.

We've been meeting in this room since 1913.

The presiding officer sits at the front of the room.

The secretary's desk is there, the treasurer, each one of these stations.

50, 60 years ago in this country, there were places like it everywhere, the Elks, the Freemasons, the lions, the Kiwanas.

Odd fellas have always kind of referred to themselves as a friendly society rather than a secret society.

But there are mysteries to the order that we won't divulge.

The film says, really, there is no America without clubs and fraternal orders and church

groups and bowling leagues.

The social scientist Robert Putnam singled out the bowling leagues for the title of his

influential book, Bowling Alone in 2000.

Putnam pulled together data on everything from religious attendance and civic memberships

to see just how people engaged in their communities and socialized in everyday life.

And he found the slow rituals of belonging in this country are in deep decline.

The brother and sister filmmaking team Rebecca and Pete Davis wanted to make a film about Putnam's work and whether it still applies today.

So back in 2017, they reached out to him.

Here's Rebecca.

It was the year Robert Putnam was retiring from teaching.

And at the same time, I was at that point still working full time in the mainstream media.

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