The Measure of America: American Human Development Report, 2008-2009

By Kristen Lewis, Sarah Burd-Sharps, Eduardo Borges Martins, et al.

Book Overview

The Measure of America is the first-ever human development report for a wealthy, developed nation. It introduces the American Human Development Index, which provides a single measure of well-being for all Americans, disaggregated by state and congressional district, as well as by gender, race, and ethnicity. The Index rankings of the 50 states and 436 congressional districts reveal huge disparities in the health, education, and living standards of different groups. Clear, precise, objective, and authoritative, this report will become the basis for all serious discussions concerning the realization of a fair, just, and globally competitive American society.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 023115495X
• ISBN13: 9780231154956
• Release Date: July 2008
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 8.4" x 9.6"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

This book and the web site REALLY measure up!!

This is a stunning, detailed, thoughtful, and remarkably informative collection of information. The statistics and summaries illustrate trends that clearly show what our policy priorities should be and why. The website and interactive support materials found there are fun, sleek, and colorful, and bring the numbers alive, with some surprising facts revealed, positive and negative. I am using this for college level psychology course instruction, for human development and stress/health topics. What a lens this information provides, and in such an engaging, user friendly format-manifesting the ideal that human tools, knowledge and culture can and should enhance human experience and development. A must read not only for policy makers, educators, health care workers, economic advisors or investors, but for anyone living on planet earth! Penelope Snow

Brain Candy for Statistical Geeks

Absolutely fascinating! Looking at the US from a human development perspective is original enough, but this book gets even better with the inclusion of detailed (by state, gender, race/ethnicity, Congressional District, etc., etc.) data on a variety of measures of well-being. Highly recommended!

Exceptionally useful for a wide variety of research purposes

The measures in this report provide a much-needed resource for quantifying the disparities in health, income, and education between states and congressional districts. This data is invaluable and will most certainly prove to be useful to students and scholars of American politics.

Truly Eye-Opening

The American Human Development Project is far more than just a report of data and conclusions. On the contrary, it not only provides interesting insight on the state of our nation, but it gives its readers a completely fresh perspective on how to examine our collective and individual well-bring. For example, instead of emphasizing how the economy is doing (GDP, etc) we should be asking how our citizens are faring within the economy. The report is unique and the first of its kind in that it exclusively examines the United States all the way down to its 436 congressional districts. Likewise, even more specific lenses are provided when ethnicity, age, income, etc are all included. From all this, index scores are computed and given to each locality and state, allowing readers to rank and compare just how well-off we all are. This is truly an innovative report that is well worth a long look.