We know the story well in parts of our region: rural areas that once had thriving economies and neighborhoods have been hollowed out by the closing of timber mills and the hollowing-out of the farm economy.
With the old options mostly gone, some areas turn to attracting new visitors and residents, through tourism and retirement and vacation-home ownership. Jennifer Sherman focuses on one small town in Washington in her book Dividing Paradise: Rural Inequality and the Diminishing American Dream.
She checks in with both sides of the rural divide, and shares her findings with us.