Leaving and left behind: the struggles of women in rural America

Ayelet and Paul are joined by Monica Potts, senior politics reporter at FiveThirtyEight and author of The Forgotten Girls: A Memoir of Friendship and Lost Promise in Rural America. Potts’s book tells the story of her childhood in rural Arkansas and how her fate diverged from that of her childhood best friend, who suffered through many of the struggles that are damaging and shortening rural lives today. They discuss how much luck matters in rural communities, what holds women back, and how the image of rural America differs from the reality.