Letter from America: commentary by Sam Pizzigati -- Foreword by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett -- 1. Introduction : The beliefs that uphold injustice ; The five faces of social inequality ; A pocket full of posies -- 2. Inequality: the antecedent and outcome and of injustice : Inevitability of change: what we do now we could all have enough? ; Injustice rising out of the ashes of social evils ; So where do we go from here -- 3. 'Elitism is efficient': new educational divisions : The 'new delinquents': those most harmed by elitism, a seventh of all children ; IQism: the underlying rationale for the growth of elitism ; Apartheid schooling: from garaging to hot-housing ; Putting on a pedestal: superhuman myths ; The 1950s: from ignorance to arrogance -- 4. 'Exclusion is necessary': excluding people from society : Indebted: those most harmed by exclusion, a sixth of all people ; Geneticism: the theories that exacerbate social exclusion ; Segregation: of community from community ; Escapism: of the rich behind walls ; The 1960s: the turning point from inclusion to exclusion -- 5. 'Prejudice is natural': a wider racism : Indenture: labour for miserable reward, a fifth of all adults ; Darwinism: thinking that different incentives are needed ; Polarisation: of the economic performance of regions ; Inheritance: the mechanism of prejudice ; The 1970s: the new racism -- 6. 'Greed is good': consumption and waste : Not part of the programme: just getting by, a quarter of all households ; Economics: the discipline with so much to answer for ; Gulfs: between our lives and our worlds ; Celebrity: celebrated as a model of success ; The 1980s: changing the rules of trade -- 7. 'Despair is inevitable': health and wellbeing : Anxiety: made ill through the way we live, a third of all families ; Competition: proposing insecurity as beneficial ; Culture: the international gaps in societal wellbeing ; Bird-brained thinking: putting profit above caring ; The 1990s: birth of mass medicating -- 8. Conspiracy, consensus, conclusion : No great conspiracy ; Using the vote ; Coming to the end ; Injustice deepens ; What to do