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214 of 226 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
From the allegorical fishbowl looking out....., June 30, 2009
This review is from: Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town (Hardcover)
Yesterday I retraced the route I first drove with Nick that first day I met him in 2005. I drove by the houses I identified to him as places where methamphetamine had been cooked or distributed. One has been torn down, one still appears dilapidated or "burned out." The other one I barely recognized because it is in such good shape with obvious care and attention being lavished upon it.
Oelwein, like many other rural communities, has changed significantly since Nick started this book. Our transformation, thankfully has been extremely positive. We have a new library, a sewer treatment plant that is not violating Clean Water Act Regulations, an absolutely gorgeous downtown area, 400 new jobs in the last 18 months, a microbrewery with multistate distribution agreements, new shops and restuarants, and a new community college campus that allows high school kids to take the kinds of classes previously only available to prep school kids, or kids in major urban centers and allowing them to graduate with an A.A. degree the same day they get their high school diplomas.
My point is simply this: None of the above listed things were here that day Nick and I went to Leo's for lunch. The town was (and still is in some ways) suffering from all the forces described by Nick. There was a palatable sense of despair. The last two chapters describe the start of the transformation, but all books end, and Oelwein's story definitely has not.
The problem is insidious and scary. As of 6.15.2009 52% of my juvenile case load is still because of methamphetamine use/addiction. The police are still arresting dealers and finding purer and more addictive product from Mexico.
Nick's research methods looked pretty solid to me. The Fayette County Sheriff's Office did have input. I was there when Nick and the Chief Deputy sat down together. Nick did contact colleges in the area. I was not privy to those conversations, but I know they were had. I know some conversations were not held because of refusal to return phone calls and emails. Are there some inacuracies? Yes, on the micro detail level, but they certainly do not detract from the story or affect it negatively. The lines drawn from point A to point B are 100% in my professional training and experience.
Nick was able to treat Oelwein fairly and report on an example of a town trying to find its way in a global economy. Oelwein and I both found hope during the writing of this book in spite of obstacles thrown up in our path, sometimes by the very government I represent on the front lines of the drug war.
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46 of 54 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Informative and important - but needs a good editing job!, August 13, 2009
This review is from: Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town (Hardcover)
This is an important sociological overview of meth in a small town in America's heartland - its production, distribution, abuse, prosecution, "treatment" and the destruction it leaves in its wake (individual, familial and societal). If you are looking for loads of juicy stories about the human tragedy of meth use (as some reviewers here apparently were), this is not the focus of the book.
Oelwein could be Anysmalltown, USA, where the bulk of the employment opportunities have dried up or moved away (in the name of progress - giant agribusiness), and where the inhabitants are looking to escape their troubles and feel better and have the opportunity to make a few bucks to boot. One of the great revelations of the book is that meth was formerly widely used, and historically was associated with increased productivity and an increased sense of well-being (although its bad side-effects were well known).
Just how Oelwein morphed from a railroad roundhouse/agricultural community into a place where people ride their bikes in the open in order to cook meth is a story well-developed in the book, told from the perspective of the prosecutor, the hospital chief of staff and the mayor. Their views on how Oelwein might be brought right again, and their own personal struggles of being in Oelwein are valuable - the approaches they ultimately take might serve as a model for other communities in dire circumstances.
How Oelwein's predicament dovetails with government anti-drug policy (and the incredible power wielded by the pharmaceutical companies lobbyists); the hierarchy of the Mexican drug industry; international regulation of the materials needed to make meth; and the rise of giant agribusiness (both for the low wages and no benefits, as well as the employment of persons of dubious nationality) is a tale of many a small town in America. In many respects, it is also a call to action on all of these fronts.
While the book is highly informative, it would have benefitted from much better editing. Written in a conversational tone, I began to be frustrated by so many sentences beginning with, "That's to say....". On page 183, Reding writes, "But I think I was also looking for the meaning of a small town in my own life and in my family's history. And what if anything, had changed so profoundly that when I would tell my father what I was seeing in Iowa, he was made to wonder if he would even recognize the place whence he comes."
That second sentence is sorely in need of a rework, and many of its ilk pepper this book. Here's another, on pages 184-5: "In the winter, they market-hunted jackrabbits, by which it is meant that they went out into the fields at night in the backs of trucks and killed the animals as they were temporarily paralyzed by the headlights." And one more, from page 222: "Or rather, it had long ago to him begun needing attention, and he was just now able to see this." Heaven help the reader!
Last, Reding comes clean when he reveals that his father had risen through the ranks of Monsanto to become its Vice Chairman, and I applaud him for his honesty. What I really didn't want to know concerned addictions in his own family - and what I really couldn't understand was that he reveals that he moved with his pregnant wife to back to St. Louis, and expresses great concern about raising a family there while nearby Jefferson County was the meth lab capital of the US (in 2005).
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20 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Uneven, August 15, 2009
This review is from: Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town (Hardcover)
This book focuses on Oelwein, Iowa and the impact of methamphetamine use in the Oelwein area dating back to the 1980's. Author Nick Reding also studies other nearby small Iowa towns, notably Ottumwa and Independence. Reding looks at the long era of steady decline suffered by Oelwein from the eighties to about 2005. Then in 2005, there began a significant upsurge in the town which included the establishment of new businesses and a new junior college. Reding largely credits the leadership of Mayor Larry Murphy for this revival.
I feel that this book would have been a lot stronger if Reding had stuck to Oelwein or, perhaps, added a couple of towns like Ottumwa and Independence. Instead, he often jumps all over the place in the U.S. and Mexico. True, he was looking at the national/international ramifications of meth. And, he does devote the great majority of the text to small-town Iowa. But, whenever Reding strays from Iowa small towns, the writing almost invariably gets weaker.
I do feel I learned a lot about meth manufacture, distribution, sale, and addiction from this book. But long before I read Methland I knew a couple of things that I would like to think every American over the age of, say, twelve should know. That is, (1) meth is a highly addictive drug, and (2) it will destroy lives. Reding has many stories that confirm both.
Along with his study of meth, Reding presents an overview of life in a small Midwestern town. I have several relatives who live in towns similar to Oelwein, and most of Reding's words ring true. Everybody knows everybody's business. People will sit and drink beer in local taverns while they gossip and remodel legends. They get together at local restaurants and coffee shops too. (How often have you eaten with a neighbor in a restaurant?) Small town residents often care about each other and are willing to help each other, simply because they know each other, in contrast to the "lonely crowds" of the big cold cities. Reding has many poignant anecdotes that reinforce these notions. He got to know quite well Oelwein residents like the mayor, assistant county prosecutor, a prominent local physician, and the police chief. He also became well acquainted with area meth addicts.
It's easy to see how an eager researcher like Reding in a small town like Oelwein could meet people who would talk to him for hours and hours, and even become his friend. Reding used these contacts to build some captivating stories.
Reding deftly looks at why meth addiction spreads. It gives the user a highly seductive feeling of power and happiness. Users look for this high because they are frustrated. They're frustrated, according to Reding, because they are poor and all seems hopeless. Reding indicates that they are poor because "Big Agriculture" has come in and shut down the family farm on which the local economy was based, or, as in the case of Oelwein, a local meatpacking plant has come under the control of people who slash wages and eliminate benefits because they can exploit newly arrived (often illegal) immigrants. Once the local economy starts to slide other businesses close and more lose their jobs. People move to the big cities or to places like California looking for work. The tax base drops so social services decline at the very time that residents need them the most. Those who are left behind don't like what they see: rot. Meth likes rot.
Meth is easy to produce, although home production often leads to fires and explosions. But users can literally make their own. A key ingredient can be extracted from cold medicine. Reding indicates that greedy pharmaceutical companies and their related retailers could more effectively limit illicit access to these cold medicines, but they want that cold medicine cash. Although it is cheap to buy at first (indeed, dealers give it away to hook the "innocent"), the addict needs more and more to get the same high. Soon, due to the drug's impact on the physiology of the brain, the only way to feel good is to use the drug. Taking the drug away from a hardcore addict places that addict in a certain kind of hell. The drug also damages internal organs. In-home production exposes the user (and anyone else around, including children) to waste products that are highly toxic. Use results in bizarre (Reding gives many vivid examples), often illegal, behavior. Users become dealers. Some dealers amass a fortune, becoming "role models" for other meth addicts. Organized crime based in Mexico gets involved. Users end up in jail and prison. Often on the very day that they are released from incarceration they start using again.
The big problem with this book is that Reding goes far beyond the above themes. He throws in all kinds of statistics, government reports, and quotes from sociologists. He talks vaguely about things like the philosophy of Immanuel Kant. It seems to me that he often just clicked on paste and inserted, say, a few sentences or paragraphs without trying to integrate it with the rest of the text. He includes unnecessary details about peoples' lives. At best peripheral figures are treated to long biographies. He also is given to grandiose phrasing that comes off as awkward. There are several typos. He repeats himself. Although there are scattered lengthy stretches of good writing, all in all, this is one poorly written, inadequately edited book. I wondered if someone was actually paid to edit/proofread this book.
I can only speculate that Reding did not really have enough after he had researched what was going on in Oelwein for a lengthy book, so he padded and padded. Then he padded some more. He threw every tidbit into the mix. True, a lot of these tidbits are fascinating, but most just do not belong in this book.
I'll give it a four for intensity and the undeniable passion that Reding brings to this book. After all, it inspired me to write my longest review at this site. But, it's at best a two for writing. So, it averages out to a three.
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