A review by iread2much
Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism by Angus Deaton, Anne Case

2.0

I really wanted to like this book. I think that what the authors discovered and the data they present is incredibly important and should be something that anyone interested in the future of capitalistic societies should be reading. However, the authors are not able to write a compelling book. They repeat themselves constantly, which does drive home their point, but they manage to do it in such a way that I have completely forgotten their point. The last two chapters were somewhat engaging, but that's it. This book is full of interesting and meaningful data, but getting to that data and trying to understand what the authors were saying was not enjoyable in the least.

Summary:

The American health care system is the greatest cause of the increasing death of white, less educated (working class) adults. The other factors include loss of meaningful work (jobs that once offered upward mobility now are stagnate and different parts of the operations are often hired through contractors with limited pay and benefits or are outsourced over seas) the decline of unions, and stagnate wages.