It has been a heartrending journey to report and write this book, and it has been possible only because so many people bared their souls to us. Clayton Green debated for a few months about whether to let us write about his meth dealing. “It’s embarrassing,” he said with a sigh. “What will the neighbors think?” Yet in the end he let us write about it because it was the messy truth and because he trusted us. That’s a heavy responsibility, and we hope that the friends who appear in these pages find that we honored their trust. One of our concerns as we wrote this book was that our unsparing portrait of their lives might lead some readers to dismiss Clayton and others as screw-ups who deserve their fates rather than as the complicated friends we cared deeply about.
Some people, like Clayton, shared their stories partly because they had known us for decades. Mary Mayor, Nick’s friend since seventh grade, had tried very hard not to let others know of her struggles with alcohol, drugs and homelessness, but after much reflection she told her story because she trusted us to help put a human face on homelessness in ways that would nurture more compassion and empathy. Others, like Daniel McDowell, the former soldier who became addicted after service in Afghanistan, didn’t know us at all but told us every gritty detail of their humiliations simply because they wanted people to understand addiction better and appreciate the toll of failed policies. Daniel’s willingness to speak up about his addiction is as courageous as anything he did in a firefight in Kandahar.
So we owe a huge thanks to those like Clayton, Mary and Daniel—and Irene Green and Dee, Keylan and Amber Knapp—who told us these stories out of some belief that the blunt truth would help formulate sounder policy and ease the suffering of others. It’s particularly painful that Clayton, an old friend whose candor about his struggles helped inform our understanding of these issues, passed away before the book was completed.
Friends in New York sometimes ask us how old friends in Yamhill relate to us when they are struggling with unemployment, drugs or homelessness; is there resentment or an unbridgeable gulf? That’s a question to pose to those friends themselves, but our answer is that our friendships are deeper than the divides. Yes, our experiences have diverged, and some old friends despair of our progressive politics or our lack of religiosity—just as they once despaired of Nick’s poor welding or miserable auto repair skills. But they have forgiven our failings and welcomed Sheryl into their lives and hearts. “You’re just the same as I am, a Yamhill kid,” Clayton told Nick. “No matter how far in life you go, or where you go to, you’re still part of Yamhill.” It also helps that Nick’s mom remains embedded in the community and is beloved by all. Ultimately, our bond with old friends arises because we all love Yamhill and because we’re all aware that something has gone terribly wrong since that “Stairway to Heaven” prom.
Thanks to The New York Times for giving Nick a book leave for this project. Arthur Sulzberger, A. G. Sulzberger and James Bennet make magnificent bosses and partners at The Times, along with so many others during Nick’s thirty-five years at the paper, ever since Abe Rosenthal and John Lee hired him as a young economics reporter in 1984. We also are very grateful to our publishing home of almost as many years, Knopf, and our longtime editor there, Jonathan Segal, who is an author’s dream: smart, thoughtful, creative and reasonable. In contrast to many other publishing houses, Knopf truly edits and pampers manuscripts, and Jon sets the gold standard for book editors. We are lucky to have editors and publishers, in both journalism and books, so devoted to quality. At Knopf, thanks also to Markus Dohle, Madeline McIntosh and Sonny Mehta for nurturing books that start thoughtful national conversations. We are grateful for the daily help from Samuel Aber and Erin Sellers, and to so many others in the company who manage translations, illustrations, covers and so much more. Dan Novack provided wise counsel on legal and other issues. Chip Kidd designed this cover as he did our previous covers. Amy Ryan dazzled us with her copyedit of this book, repeatedly rescuing us from ourselves, and Ellen Feldman guided us through the production process and made it all seem easy. Paul Bogaards helps us reach you readers, along with Jessica Purcell and the publicity team at Knopf who will be sending us around the country to talk about this book, in conjunction with our lecture agents at American Program Bureau. It takes a village to produce a book, and Knopf is a remarkable community that we feel lucky to be part of.
Anne Sibbald has been our literary agent ever since we were young foreign correspondents in China in 1993 and faxed the legendary Mort Janklow at the suggestion of our colleague Bill Safire. We have been with Janklow & Nesbit agency ever since. Anne has been a wise, enthusiastic and patient cheerleader and read multiple drafts of this book. This trio of companies we have worked with—Knopf, The New York Times and Janklow & Nesbit—represent for-profit companies that also care deeply about quality, purpose and social mission. Anybody would be lucky to work with one of these, and we have been lucky enough to work with all three.
Huge thanks to Jennifer Garner for recording the audiobook version of Tightrope—and also for her tireless work on behalf of children. She serves on the board of Save the Children and is a passionate advocate for sounder policies to help kids left behind.
The Ford Foundation gave us a grant for the reporting of this book and the photography in it. Special thanks to Darren Walker, Noorain Khan, Dave Mazzoli, Kelsey Baker and Grace Añonuevo of the Ford Foundation for making that happen—and thanks to the Ford Foundation more broadly for its work addressing the issues we write about.
The photos in this book are mostly from Lynsey Addario, an old friend whose photography (and heart) we greatly admire. Lynsey has spent much of her career covering conflicts in places like Afghanistan, Iraq and Sudan, and we have worked with her abroad, so it was a treat to bring her with us to Oregon, Oklahoma and Alabama; it was particularly nice to work with Lynsey in a place without warlords and firefights. Alice Gabriner did a smart and meticulous job editing the photos.
Many experts discussed issues with us in the reporting of the book, or read parts of it. We are especially grateful to readers and commenters including Gordon Berlin of MDRC, Sheldon Danziger of the Russell Sage Foundation, Ken Levit of the George Kaiser Family Foundation, Isabel Sawhill of the Brookings Institution and H. Luke Shaefer of the University of Michigan. They are all experts on inequity whose comments were profoundly helpful. Other readers of all or part of the manuscript include Glenn Kramon, Liriel Higa and Natalie Kitroeff of The New York Times; Bob Bansen and Joni Marten from Yamhill; Jane Kristof, Darrell WuDunn and Katharine Miao; and our cousin George Apostolicas. Special thanks to our friend Josh Lewis, who offered excellent, detailed suggestions; he once helped rescue us from a rock in the Salmon River, and he proved himself as deft an editor as a kayaker.
The book was also informed by helpful conversations with Princeton University professor Alan Krueger, who died as this book was being completed, as well as George Kaiser of the George B. Kaiser Family Foundation and many others.
Several outstanding Princeton University students helped with fact-checking, research and early readings that led to excellent suggestions. They include Nathan Levit, who also worked with us in parts of Oklahoma, as well as Ethan Sterenfeld, Joseph Charney, Julia Hillenbrand and Seamus McDonough.
We were joined on this journey by a crew working on a television documentary in conjunction with this book, and the documentary team at Show of Force has been immensely helpful. The team helped us find Daniel McDowell and Police Lieutenant Steve Olson in Baltimore, in addition to Marquita Abbott in Washington, D.C., and a number of others we interviewed. The documentary team shared transcripts and was deeply committed to shining a light on these issues while preserving the dignity of those going through difficult times. The Show of Force team includes Maro Chermayeff, Josh Bennett and Jeff Dupre, with whom we worked on previous documentaries, and also Viva Van Loock, Paula Astorga, Christina Avalos, Lizzy Coplin, Erin Crumpacker, Wolfgang Held and Gina Nemirofsky.
With so much help, it’s difficult to imagine that we could still mess up. But we refuse to engage in the customary piety that any remaining errors are solely the fault of the authors. If mistakes have crept in, we disclaim responsibility. Any errors are entirely the fault of our spouse.