The American Dream in Crisis

Guest: Robert Putnam, author of “Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis” and the Isabel Malkin Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University The American Dream—the notion that anyone, with enough hard work and gumption, can find success in America today. Noted Harvard researcher Robert Putnam says the American Dream is in Crisis for Our Kids, which is the title of his latest book. It’s a mix of intimate and often heart-breaking stories about the lives of many youth living in America today, interspersed with hard numbers and charts that show a recurring “scissor” effect. Picture an open pair of scissors, or the gaping maw of a crocodile, and you’ll pretty much get just how much kids from affluent backgrounds are pulling further and further ahead in society. Putnam’s central thesis is that “in recent decades the challenges and opportunities facing rich and poor kids have grown more disparate.”