Denison, Iowa: Searching for the Soul of America Through the Secrets of a Midwest Town [Paperback]

Dale Maharidge (Author), Michael Williamson (Photographer)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Over the past 15 years, the all-white, largely German-Lutheran population of Denison, Iowa, has given way to a sizable Latino population, which has been drawn to the small town by the jobs most of the local white youths have turned down: working in the town's packing plants, where as many as 9,400 hogs are butchered each day. It is this demographic shift—with its attendant political battles, business woes and ordinary triumphs and defeats—that the Pulitzer Prize–winning duo of Maharidge and Williamson (And Their Children After Them, etc.) document in their latest photo-and-reportage book. The volume's cast of characters is diverse and illustrative: there's the young idealist trying to save the town's history; the forward-looking mayor pushing an ambitious plan for the town's future; and the Latino business owner toiling for his piece of the American dream. Sympathetically and eloquently, Maharidge conveys the stories of Denison's working poor and its white elite, its meth addicts and its merchants, all within a narrative that serves as a terrific reminder of how complex even the most ordinary of small towns really is. Photos not seen by
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Denison, Iowa, the hometown of Donna Reed, has adopted "It's a Wonderful Life" as its slogan and is trying to capitalize on its association with the actress and the beloved movie to overcome the economic decline that is all too prevalent for small towns in the Midwest. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Maharidge and photographer Williamson chose Denison as representative of Middle America, a good place to showcase the changes that are occurring in the nation as small towns struggle to create a future for themselves as farming and industry decline and population dwindles. Maharidge lived in Denison for a year, chronicling the tensions of socioeconomic change: a rise in the population of Latinos that engenders resentment by most, and heroic efforts by one woman to teach English to the newcomers. Maharidge details the day-to-day struggle to make a living and something of a life in a town that is isolated in what is derisively called "flyover country." Maharidge exhibits an engaging and evocative style in this absorbing look at changes in Middle America. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Free Press (June 10, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743255666
• ISBN-13: 978-0743255660
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #823,978 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ah Denison, ah humanity!, September 30, 2005

By	Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Denison, Iowa: Searching for the Soul of America Through the Secrets of a Midwest Town (Hardcover)

On occasion, I read two books at about the same time which can be an "odd couple" indeed. For example, this book and New York Stories. As editor of the latter, Constance Rosenblum focuses on what she characterizes as the "glories, frustrations, and peculiar appeal" of New York City and the same can be said of Maharidge's perspectives on Denison. Although there are many stunning differences between the two cultures, both exemplify the best and worst of what is often referred to as the "American Experience."

With regard to this book, it is the latest of several collaborations by Maharidge and Williamson. In this instance, we accompany them during their search for "the soul of America through the secrets of a midwestern town." I do not recall being in Denison specifically but as described so vividly by Maharidge, the town seems very familiar...especially when I look at Michael Williamson's photographs. I am reminded of countless other small towns in the Midwest I visited in my childhood and adolescence, and then later while in college. Of course, they changed a great deal during subsequent decades (as have I) and that is one of the most fascinating subjects (among many) in this book.

Children are born, grow up, and then most leave as soon as they can for better jobs, brighter lights, a faster pace, etc. A "dying" town is one which loses appeal to its youth as its economy irrevocably declines. There are more burials than baptisms. (This process of deterioration is effectively portrayed in Larry McMurty's novels The Last Picture Show and its sequel, Texasville, as well as in films based on them.) Many of those who remain have nowhere else to go or lack the desire to seek a better life elsewhere. Here are some key facts:

About 60% of the state's college graduates leave.
Denison's population is almost 8,000.
Latinos comprise about 25% of that number.
Meat packing plants are the backbone of Denison's economy.
Maharidge and Williamson lived in Denison for a year.
Most residents seem willing, at times eager to share their thoughts and feelings.
Maharidge adds his own opinions from time to time, when appropriate.
He also provides relevant historical information to establish a frame-of-reference.
Denison adopted "It's a Wonderful Life" as its motto.

As for that civic motto, proudly featured on a water tower, it is explained by the fact that Donna Reed is a native of Denison. As Maharidge suggests, the motto is true of many residents but certainly not of all. Similar to so many other small towns throughout the United States, Denison is in the midst of an especially difficult transition. With all due respect to the significance of shifting demographics, Maharidge and Williamson concentrate almost entirely on specific residents and what appear to be their representative human experiences. The "secrets" to which the subtitle refers are best revealed within the narrative.

Of all the people with whom Maharidge and Williamson associated for more than a year, the one of greatest interest to me is Louis Navar. Consider this brief excerpt with which the book concludes. Navar has just landed a job doing a roof for Dick Knowles, a "nemesis" of two other residents, Al Roder and Ken Livingston. "I thought we were friends," one of them said. Read carefully Navar's response:

"I told them it was business, that I do business with everyone, that in Mexico it is much rougher than here. You don't trust anybody, you are only a friend after you prove it, when it really matters. It is earned. You do business with people, and you shake hands and smile and call each other `friend,' but you're not really friends. You don't trust them. It is just business. So I am doing business with Mr. Knowles [and then extending his hand to the mayor]...and with you, friend."

Navar has so many dreams but almost no illusions. His intelligence, passion, ambition, decency, and -- especially -- his energy and "street smarts" are precisely what are needed to revitalize Denison. In several respects, he is whatever future the town has.

Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out others co-authored by Maharidge and Williamson: And Their Children After Them: The Legacy of Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, Homeland, Journey to Nowhere: The Saga of the New Underclass, and The Last Great American Hobo. Also three books by William Least Heat-Moon: Blue Highways: A Journey into America, PrairyErth (A Deep Map): An Epic History of the Tallgrass Prairie Country, and River Horse: The Logbook of a Boat Across America.

If your preference is for relevant works of fiction, I recommend the short stories of Eudora Welty and Flannery O'Connor as well as Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio and Edgar Lee Masters' poems, notably those in his Spoon River Anthology.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Now we need a new chapter!, November 9, 2005

By	Bob Creasey (Denison, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Denison, Iowa: Searching for the Soul of America Through the Secrets of a Midwest Town (Hardcover)

While I loved this book, there are those here who despised it. The writing is excellent, the stories are true, and I discovered we are more interesting than I had previously thought! As Denison continues to change and grow, be advised that the spirit of Donna Reed is alive and well. While I am not a native Denisonian, it is a really great place to live. When you read this book - and you really should - you'll be interested to know that Nathan Mahrt was just (11/8) elected Mayor by quite a substantial margin. I think Maharidge should come back in about five years and write a sequel!

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Denison" is the future, September 18, 2005

By	Roving Writer (W. Hollywood, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Denison, Iowa: Searching for the Soul of America Through the Secrets of a Midwest Town (Hardcover)

"Denison" is an essential book about America's trajectory, years ahead of its time; Maharidge is a keen observer and analyst. In his 1990s "The Coming White Minority," the author coined language about the US turning "brown around the edges," meaning that immigration showed itself most notably along borders and coasts where ports are located -- without the whites realizing their decline into racial minority in California, for example. But now he's turned that theory inside out -- rightly chronicling the racial, economic, and societal change roiling small-town America and invisible to a mainstream press hungry for cheap sound bytes.

Maharidge did not parachute into Iowa but instead set aside one year of his life to experience and contribute to a forgotten hamlet. He lived in a derelict house with predatory ghosts, stuffing his windows with old clothing against the prairie wind and lying awake, alone, through train whistles screaming through the night and valley below him. He taught English as a second language to newcomers from Mexico who worked in the meatpacking plant while rebuffing advances from lonely midwestern women. He saw prejudice carried on through forgotten history, and also the rewards not only of a new, mostly Hispanic generation's industry, but also in the passions of the old guard -- represented by an open-minded young Denisonite's identity with his homeland.

Read this book to step into the minds and hearts of everyday Americans, old and new. Conflict, sorrow, hope, and faith merge in a book that will propel Maharidge to yet higher achievements.