Here's today's column on deaths of despair, brought down to a specific Oregon (and Oklahoma) family, "Who Killed the Knapp Family?" The story starts in Kristof's hometown, Yamhill, Oregon, and ends in Oklahoma, where the adult children have been buried after dying of what so-called "deaths of despair." Here's an excerpt curated to focus on the Knapps, Farlan, Zealan, Rogena, Nathan and Keylan. The only one still alive is Keylan, in part because he spent 13 years in a state penitentiary;
They were bright, rambunctious, upwardly mobile youngsters whose father had a good job installing pipes. The Knapps were thrilled to have just bought their own home, and everyone oohed and aahed when Farlan received a Ford Mustang for his 16th birthday.
Yet today about one-quarter of the children on that No. 6 bus are dead, mostly from drugs, suicide, alcohol or reckless accidents. Of the five Knapp kids who had once been so cheery, Farlan died of liver failure from drink and drugs, Zealan burned to death in a house fire while passed out drunk, Rogena died from hepatitis linked to drug use and Nathan blew himself up cooking meth.Don't miss this piece in its entirety, apparently based on a forthcoming book by Kristof and WuDunn.