Suicide, radical individualism, and the wild west

[chielgirl]

Try reading Slapstick or Lonesome No More by Kurt Vonnegut.

The siblings created, among other things, a plan to end loneliness in America through vast extended families. Under the plan, all citizens would be provided with new middle names, made of the name of a random natural object paired with a random number between 1 and 20. Everyone with the same name would be cousins, and everyone with the same name and number would be siblings.

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by Natural510

In addition to isolationism and weather-related factors, most of those states also have significant American Indian populations. I'm surprised South Dakota didn't rate higher on the list:
South Dakota reservation’s suicide rate said to be among highest in world | NDN News - Daily Headlines in Indian Country

^^^That was what I was thinking.