Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn return to Yamhill, Oregon, to track the lives of children who rode the same school bus as Kristof in the 1970s. They document how a quarter of these classmates died from preventable causes like drug overdoses, suicide, and alcohol-related illnesses. The narrative connects these individual tragedies to broader policy failures, including the disappearance of working-class manufacturing jobs and the lack of a social safety net. By analyzing the decline of the Knights family, the authors argue that the erosion of organized labor and the rise of mass incarceration replaced blue-collar stability with generational poverty.
This book serves readers interested in labor economics and rural sociology. It provides a detailed look at the human cost behind national statistics on inequality and the opioid crisis. Readers walk away with a specific understanding of how policy decisions regarding healthcare and education create systemic barriers to social mobility. Those studying the intersection of state failure and community collapse will find a case study on how the loss of industrial employment creates a cycle of addiction and legal trouble that persists across decades.
Clear-cut; an easy read.
Best for readers like The Evidence Seeker. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 2020
- Language
- EN
