Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Hedrick Smith will speak at the University of Vermont on Tuesday, April 15 on the history of growing inequality in America and the reasons behind it. His lecture, titled "Who Stole the American Dream?" will take place at 4:30 p.m. in the Silver Maple Ballroom of the Davis Center. It is free and open to the public.

The talk shares its title with Smith’s most recent book, which the Huffington Post calls “… a sweeping, authoritative examination of the last four decades of the American economic experience.”

According to Booklist, “This book is essential reading for all of us who want to understand America today, or why average Americans are struggling to keep afloat. Smith reveals how pivotal laws and policies were altered while the public wasn’t looking, how Congress often ignores public opinion, why moderate politicians got shoved to the sidelines, and how Wall Street often wins politically by hiring over 1,400 former government officials as lobbyists.”

Smith, former New York Times reporter and editor and Emmy Award-winning producer/correspondent, is one of America's most distinguished journalists. He has covered Washington and world capitals for The New York Times, authored several best-selling books and created 20 award-winning PBS prime time specials and miniseries on Washington's power game, Soviet perestroika, the global economy, education reform, health care, teen violence, terrorism and Wall Street.

He is also an expert on Russia, with two best selling books on that country, The Russians, published in 1976, and The New Russians, published in 1990. He remains a careful observer of that nation.

Smith’s talk is sponsored by Marsh-Professor-at–Large Madeleine Kunin and UVM’s Political Science Department. Kunin served as the governor of Vermont from 1985 to 1991. As a member of President Bill Clinton’s administration, she served as deputy secretary of education of the United States from 1993 to 1997 and United States ambassador to Switzerland from 1996 to 1999.