The new book, OUR KIDS: THE AMERICAN DREAM IN CRISIS, is a groundbreaking examination of the growing inequality gap of children in America. Author and Harvard Professor, Robert Putnam, provides, a disturbing account of the American dream that should initiate a deep examination of the future of our country.

Spotlight’s Jodie Levin-Epstein sat down with Dr. Putnam to discuss the problem of children living in poverty, why the youth class gap is a growing problem, and what can be done in terms of solutions.

Robert D. Putnam is the Peter and Isabel Malkin Professor of Public Policy at Harvard, where he teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses. Professor Putnam is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a Fellow of the British Academy, and past president of the American Political Science Association. In 2006, Putnam received the Skytte Prize, the world’s highest accolade for a political scientist, and in 2012, he received the National Humanities Medal, the nation’s highest honor for contributions to the humanities.