Obviously not a happy book, given the subject matter, but oddly optimistic that there are solutions that are neither terribly complex nor terribly utopian. Written clearly, but a bit repetitive, and crammed with a bit more facts and figures than I really needed to believe them. ( )

Our story of deaths of despair; of pain; of addiction, alcoholism, and suicide; of worse jobs with lower wages; of declining marriage; and of declining religion. S.4

African Americans have long had harder lives than whites. Blacks die younger, today as in the past. Blacks are also less likely to go to college, or to find employment. S.5

We do not think that taxation is the solution to rent-seeking; the right way to stop thieves is to stop them stealing, not to raise their taxes. (S.12)
(Kenneth Scheve and David Stasavage, 2016, Taxing the rich: A history of fiscal fairness in the United States and Europe, Princeton University Press.)

We need to stop the abuse and overprescription of opioids, not tax the profits. We need to correct the process, not try to fix the outcomes. We need to stop bankers and real estate dealers writing regulations and tax laws in their own interests. S.12

that squeezing even small amounts out of each of a large number of working people can provide enormous fortunes for the rich. S.13

They are drinking themselves to death, or poisoning themselves with drugs, or shooting or hanging themselves. S.38

All the deaths show great unhappiness with life, either momentary or prolonged. It is tempting to classify them all as suicides, done either quickly, with a gun or by standing on and kicking away a chair with a rope around the neck, or slowly, with drugs or alcohol. S.39

The vast majority of drug deaths are classified as “accidental poisonings,” but these are not accidents in the same sense as falling off a ladder or being electrocuted by mistakenly touching a live wire. S.39

addiction is a prison that separates its victims from a life worth living. S.39

Parents should not have to watch their grown children die. Children are supposed to bury their parents, not the reverse. The death of a child, even an adult child, can tear families apart, and the loss of people in their prime, people who should not be dying, upends communities and workplaces too. S. 46

in anna karenina, Leo Tolstoy famously claims that for a family, there is only one way of being happy, but many different ways of being unhappy. S. 71

Addiction to alcohol can be just as destructive as addiction to drugs, both for those addicted and for their loved ones. Addiction to drugs or alcohol makes suicide seem more attractive; a person with an active addiction has often lost the parts of life that made it worth living. S.96

People may choose to kill themselves by taking extreme risks, driving recklessly, or swimming alone in dangerous conditions. S.96

Poverty and inequality are seen as twin curses that are routinely, if usually not very precisely, blamed for all manner of evils, not just for contributing to poor and declining health but also for undermining democratic governance, for slowing economic growth, for inducing economic instability, for eroding trust and happiness, and even for spurring the rise in obesity. S.134

We believe that capitalism is an immensely powerful force for progress and for good, but it needs to serve people and not have people serve it. Capitalism needs to be better monitored and regulated. S.262 ( )

Definitely a heavy topic but well researched and explained in a very compelling and sympathetic way. An important Issue for every American to get their heads around. I was hoping the books would find a more compelling answer as to why these deaths are happening. My armchair analysis is that is has to do with unrealistic expectations, set in part by social media. My full review here: https://www.miketrigg.com/blog/ug0wpqdy6saofsxyrhafiwxxadmwpy ( )

http://bactra.org/weblog/algae-2021-10.html#case-deaton ( )