American kids today are 55% more likely to die by the age of nineteen than children who grow up in other industrialized countries. Is the American Dream an outdated one? Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn explore this question in their latest book, Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope. It chronicles the lives of people Kristof grew up with in rural Oregon, where roughly a quarter of the children who rode the school bus with him, died in adulthood from drugs, alcohol, suicide or accidents.
In conversation with KQED’s Mina Kim, Kristoff and WuDunn discuss why so many Americans are struggling with poverty, addiction and depression despite living in the wealthiest country in the world.
Join us for VPM Forum, Sunday February 15 at 6:00 p.m. on VPM News, 88.9 FM.