Be It Ever So Humble, Home at Least Seems Safe

We’ve supposedly lived in the age of cocooning for more than a decade. Somehow, though, Americans have snuck out of the house often enough to dine at restaurants, attend sports events, take “adventure vacations,” go to movies, trample the national parks, shop in mega-stores, etc.—all in record numbers. In the post-Sept. 11 world, though, there’s reason to think Americans finally will retreat en masse to home and hearth. Whatever else one might say about home, it looks less menacing than the outside world.