Our Kids, Robert D. Putnam
Our Kids, Robert D. Putnam
8 Rating(s)
List: $25.99 | Sale: $18.20
Club: $12.99

Our Kids
The American Dream in Crisis

Bestseller

Author: Robert D. Putnam

Narrator: Arthur Morey

Unabridged: 10 hr 17 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/10/2015

Includes: Bonus Material Bonus Material Included


Synopsis

A New York Times bestseller and “a passionate, urgent” (The New Yorker) examination of the growing inequality gap from the bestselling author of Bowling Alone: why fewer Americans today have the opportunity for upward mobility.

Central to the very idea of America is the principle that we are a nation of opportunity. But over the last quarter century we have seen a disturbing “opportunity gap” emerge. We Americans have always believed that those who have talent and try hard will succeed, but this central tenet of the American Dream seems no longer true or at the least, much less true than it was.

In Our Kids, Robert Putnam offers a personal and authoritative look at this new American crisis, beginning with the example of his high school class of 1959 in Port Clinton, Ohio. The vast majority of those students went on to lives better than those of their parents. But their children and grandchildren have faced diminishing prospects. Putnam tells the tale of lessening opportunity through poignant life stories of rich, middle class, and poor kids from cities and suburbs across the country, brilliantly blended with the latest social-science research.

“A truly masterful volume” (Financial Times), Our Kids provides a disturbing account of the American dream that is “thoughtful and persuasive” (The Economist). Our Kids offers a rare combination of individual testimony and rigorous evidence: “No one can finish this book and feel complacent about equal opportunity” (The New York Times Book Review).

About Robert D. Putnam

Robert D. Putnam is the Malkin Research Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University and a former Dean of the John F. Kennedy School of Government. Nationally honored as a leading humanist and a renowned scientist, he has written fourteen books, including the bestselling Our Kids and Bowling Alone, and has consulted for the last four US Presidents. In 2012, President Obama awarded him the National Humanities Medal, the nation’s highest honor for contributions to the humanities. His research program, the Saguaro Seminar, is dedicated to fostering civic engagement in America. Visit RobertDPutnam.com.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Thomas

A saddening yet necessary examination of how the gap between the rich and the poor has expanded in the United States. Fans of Matthew Desmond's Evicted may enjoy this book, as Robert Putnam blends human narratives with quantitative data to make his points. His main thesis: while America once ser......more

Goodreads review by Clif

The American dream of opportunity and upward mobility is fading fast, and it has happened during most of our lifetimes (since 1970). Most of us have heard the news about the trend toward increased disparity in wealth. This book makes the point that there is a similar trend toward disparity in many s......more

Goodreads review by Ian

Yeah, what can you say about a book like this? Seems to be getting a near universal 4-star rating here, as it is well-written, meticulously researched, interesting, and exceedingly timely. That said, the book covers a lot of well-explored territory, and I rarely found myself surprised by any of the b......more