This opinion piece uses an Oregon town and particularly the Knapp family to explore the despair that some people across the country are feeling and how that hopelessness impacts their health. In particular, America’s working class has been hit hard by policies of multiple administrations, such as low wages for jobs that do not require a college education, mass incarceration, and the lack of universal healthcare.

Learn more: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/09/opinion/sunday/deaths-despair-poverty.html