It Doesn't Have to Be This Way (What I Learned When I Left America)

New York Times bestselling author and political analyst Kirsten Powers offers a stunning and timely exploration of the ways in which so many Americans are being left behind—and how many of us are finding that the American Dream is more attainable when we leave America behind instead.

Americans are burnt out. It’s not just the wars, the global pandemic, and the toxic and divisive political shift. Burnout has become ingrained in our hyper-capitalistic hustle culture. Are there any among us who haven’t dreamed of a more balanced, slower life abroad?

When Kirsten Powers began to consider leaving the U.S.—and her successful career in politics and journalism—she couldn’t stop thinking, “We don’t have to live like this.” We shouldn’t have to worry that an emergency medical procedure will force us into bankruptcy. We shouldn’t have to fear our children will be shot at school, or that they will finish college only if they take on a mountain of debt. We shouldn't have to wonder whether we will ever be able to retire.

It Doesn't Have to Be This Way shares a stunning, compassionate critique of our country’s anti-social individualism and glaring lack of social safety nets. When she moved to the boot-heel of Italy and began to restore a 200-year-old trullo, Kirsten discovered the tragic irony that the American Dream is more attainable once you leave America behind.

Once she was away from the hustle and grind, she found that in much of the world (although less and less), "slow living" is just . . . living. There are still places where:

• children have normal childhoods with unscheduled play
• parents aren't perpetually exhausted and stressed
• Adults have time to see friends and connect with community
• being super busy isn't a sign of importance, but of a life out of balance

Here, Kirsten shares her own lessons as well as those of Americans living in countries where the pursuit of happiness is not a mad race to the top, but instead an everyday striving for goodness—as well as her insights about where we might go from here.