We Were Poor and Didn’t Know It

By Ben Kafferlin and Abby Skeans via Opportunity LivesCharles Murray’s seminal work, Coming Apart, focused on the segregation of Caucasian Americans by income into zip codes. In many ways, Robert Putnam’s Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis picks up where Murray’s work left off – measuring and evaluating social and economic inequality.Importantly, however, Putnam frames his research in the context of non-fictional stories as he follows the journeys of individuals who originate from a spectrum of familial, economic, and social circumstances. His experientially focused work aims to move readers past data and toward the heart the issue – how inequality ultimately affects those among us who have the most to lose, our children.