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A Finnish journalist and naturalized American citizen compares and contrasts life in the U.S. with life in the Nordic region to encourage Americans to draw on practices from the Nordic way of life to create a fairer, happier, more secure, and less stressful society. Anu Partanen had recently left Finland and moved to America. She found that navigating the basics of everyday life--from health insurance and taxes to education and child care--was much more complicated and stressful than in her homeland. She discovered that Americans shared her deep apprehensions. To understand why life in Finland is so drastically different from the way things are in the United States, Partanen began to look closely at both countries. In The Nordic Theory of Everything, Partanen compares living in the United States with life in the Nordic region, focusing on four key relationships--parents and children, men and women, employees and employers, and government and citizens. She debunks criticism that Nordic countries are socialist "nanny states," revealing instead that it is we Americans who are far more enmeshed in unhealthy dependencies than we realize. Partanen explains how the Nordic approach allows citizens to enjoy more individual freedom and equality than we do. She wants to show her beloved new country what it can learn from her homeland to reinvigorate and fulfill the promise of the American dream.