The people of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, voted Democratic for decades until Donald Trump flipped the county in 2016. What happened?
In The Forgotten, Ben Bradlee Jr. reports on how voters in Luzerne County, a pivotal county in a crucial swing state, came to feel like strangers in their own land -- marginalized by flat or falling wages, rapid demographic change, and a liberal culture that mocked their faith and patriotism.
Fundamentally rural and struggling with limited economic opportunity, Luzerne County can be seen as a microcosm of the nation. In The Forgotten, Trump voters speak for themselves, explaining how they felt others were "cutting in line,'' and that the federal government was taking too much money from the employed and giving it to the idle. The loss of breadwinner status -- and, more important, the loss of dignity -- primed them for a candidate like Donald Trump.
The political facts of a divided America are stark, but the stories of the men, women, and families in The Forgotten offer a kaleidoscopic and fascinating portrait of the complex on-the-ground political reality of America today.
Ben - who wrote the 2013 biography "The Kid: The Immortal Life of Ted Williams" - discusses Williams in the 60-minute American Masters production: "Ted Williams: The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived" which aired on 7/23/18
Watch the Boston Globe's review Watch »
Ben was portrayed by actor John Slattery in the film "Spotlight", which won the Best Picture Oscar in 2016. The movie is about the Boston Globe's investigation into the Catholic Church sexual abuse crisis for which the paper was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for public service in 2003. As Deputy Managing Editor, Ben oversaw the four reporters on the Spotlight Team, the Globe investigative unit, which produced the stories: Walter Robinson, Mike Rezendes, Sacha Pfeiffer and Matt Carroll.
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Interview of Ben and John Slattery at the 2015 Toronto Film Festival Watch »
Interview of Ben and Mike Rezendes with Seymour Hersh at the 92nd Y in New York Watch »