# Deaths of Despair by Anne Case and Angus Deaton

4 Hacker News commenters recommended Deaths of Despair by Anne Case and Angus Deaton and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 1 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** People recommend it as a book that changed their view of its subject and covers it well. One critic says it does not give the author's argument a strong foundation.

## Why people recommend it

- Changed a reader's viewpoint (1 comments): "One thing that changed my viewpoint was this book." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49463639))
- Covers its topic well (1 comments): "does a pretty good job at talking about this" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49216678))

## What people warn about

- Weak foundation for the argument (1 comments): "does not provide a strong foundation for the author's argument" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48344399))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty](https://hackerapproved.com/p/capital-in-the-twenty-first-century.md): 12 recommend
- [Why Nations Fail by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson](https://hackerapproved.com/p/why-nations-fail.md): 9 recommend
- [Progress and Poverty by Henry George](https://hackerapproved.com/p/progress-and-poverty.md): 6 recommend
- [Free to Choose by Milton Friedman](https://hackerapproved.com/p/free-to-choose.md): 5 recommend
- [Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism by Vladimir Lenin](https://hackerapproved.com/p/imperialism-the-highest-stage-of-capitalism.md): 5 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Deaths+of+Despair+by+Deaton+and+Case&tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Deaths of Despair by Anne Case and Angus Deaton", https://hackerapproved.com/p/deaths-of-despair-and-the-future-of-capitalism/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).