Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America First Edition

by Stephen G. Bloom (Author)

83 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0156013369

ISBN-10: 9780156013369

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In 1987, a group of Lubavitchers, one of the most orthodox and zealous of the Jewish sects, opened a kosher slaughterhouse just outside tiny Postville, Iowa (pop. 1,465). When the business became a worldwide success, Postville found itself both revived and divided. The town's initial welcome of the Jews turned into confusion, dismay, and even disgust. By 1997, the town had engineered a vote on what everyone agreed was actually a referendum: whether or not these Jews should stay.

The quiet, restrained Iowans were astonished at these brash, assertive Hasidic Jews, who ignored the unwritten laws of Iowa behavior in almost every respect. The Lubavitchers, on the other hand, could not compromise with the world of Postville; their religion and their tradition quite literally forbade it. Were the Iowans prejudiced, or were the Lubavitchers simply unbearable?

Award-winning journalist Stephen G. Bloom found himself with a bird's-eye view of this battle and gained a new perspective on questions that haunt America nationwide. What makes a community? How does one accept new and powerfully different traditions? Is money more important than history? In the dramatic and often poignant stories of the people of Postville - Jew and gentile, puzzled and puzzling, unyielding and unstoppable - lies a great swath of America today.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

A gripping portrayal of a confounding collision."-The New York Times

A fascinating portrait of a town torn in two. [A] thoughtful, compelling book."
-The Dallas Morning News

Foreign as these two tiny and tightly circumscribed communities are to most outsiders, the story of their clash . . . is compelling and important."
-The Miami Herald

About the Author

Stephen G. Bloom is an award-winning journalist and has been a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, the San Jose Mercury News, and other major newspapers. He now teaches journalism at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, where he lives with his wife and son.

Product details

Series: Harvest Book
Paperback: 380 pages
Publisher: Mariner Books; First edition (September 10, 2001)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9780156013369
ISBN-13: 978-0156013369
ASIN: 0156013363
Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 1 x 7.6 inches
Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 83 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #306,447 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #414 in Books > Textbooks > Social Sciences > Political Science > Government
- #456 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Specific Demographics > Minority Studies
- #1126 in Books > History > World > Jewish

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Reads Like A Novel - engaging and informative

January 21, 2010

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This book was about the culture clash in the small town of Postville, IA (population 1500) between the white, Christian locals and the Hasidic Jews who moved in the late 80s and turned an old slaughterhouse into a kosher slaughterhouse. The author is a Reform Jew so he brought an interesting perspective to the conflict as someone sort of in the middle of the two extremes living in Postville.

I really liked this book, it reads like a novel. The only thing that bothered me was the author throwing in Yiddish or Hebrew words without telling me what they meant. The plant in Postville was raided in May 2008 and almost 400 undocumented immigrants, mostly from Somalia and Latin America were removed and the NYT reported that the plant is defaulting on a $35M loan. A sequel may be in order.

2 people found this helpful3 people found this helpful

Pre-ICE Raid Postville

July 16, 2008

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America
This book describes the author's family move from the sophistication of life in San Francisco to Iowa in 1993. The author's acceptance of a position as professor of journalism at the University of Iowa necessitated not only a change of location, but also of world view and life style, as witnessed by his shock in reading a newspaper review of the better sea food retaurants in the Cedar Rapids area and finding Red Lobster and Long John Silver listed.

I purchased the book because like so many, I was horrified at the multi-million dollar raid performed by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) at the Postville Agriprocessor's meat packing plant in May 2008. The raid netted some 400 workers, principally of Guatemalan and Mexican descent, working at the plant that day. I wanted to know the history of the town and the plant that brought these people to this small Iowa town, to a factory operated by Hasidic (ultra-orthodox) Jews. At the time of the raid, the plant provided nearly 60% of the kosher beef, lamb and poultry in the US.

In an often humorous, but always serious and evenhanded way, Bloom tells the tale of the dying town that was ressurected by the opening of the kosher operations at the abandoned meat packing plant there. The creation of more than 400 jobs, even though the jobs did not attract workers from Iowa, was still an economic miracle for Postville, but as Bloom explains, the blessing was also a curse, as it meant the the Hasidic Jews had accomlished that which the town and state had not. It also meant that the Jews were the wealthy people in town who effectively called the shots on much of town life. Finally, there were the cultural and religious differences that had never quite been over come.

Bloom's tells this story of culture clash from several perspectives, and the people, real people (although some are re-named from their actual names) are living, breathing people, not stereotypes. One one level, Bloomn's book is a history of ecomic and culture clash in a small, rural town. On another level, possibly not intended, the book is a tale of globalization, and the shifting role of the US in a global economy. The tensions and clashes in the book seem to parallel or foretell the rise of globalism and and its clashes with rising nationalism and nativism.

The book is a valuable and comfortable read on its own. As we learn more and more of the social and economic paralysis now besetting Postville (not to mention the cost to tax payers for the raid itself), I believe Bloom's book will be a valuable tool in defining a basline and illuminaitng the very intangible sociological elements of the town's existence.

3 people found this helpful4 people found this helpful

It's not journalism, but read it anyway.

October 31, 2004

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

No, it's not "good journalism," it's biased and even angering as the previous reviewers have stated. The author doesn't speak to as many Hassidic sources as he does to townspeople. Part of the way through the book, he takes a side completely and stops speaking to the Hassidim entirely. He doesn't break down many myths about either side but particularly he doesn't understand how the Hassidim treat women, which is disappointing given his natural position as potential ambassador between the two groups. It's clear that he does not practice what he preaches (that is, remaining objective and having two sources back up each fact that he uses). So, the first 200 pages of "analysis" are a little bit disappointing and predictable, speaking in vague terms about mild anti-semitism.

What makes this book truly worth reading is what happens about 200 pages in. Bloom stops reporting on the situation and starts reporting more correctly on several specific topics, namely: the business practices of the Hassidim in Postville, certain incidents in the local area, and - most fascinatingly - about the criminal actions of and obstruction of justice by a small handful of Hassidim in Northeast Iowa.

It's absolutely worth reading Bloom's tepid analysis for 200 pages to get to these 130 pages of rather engrossing stories.

5 people found this helpful6 people found this helpful

Later came into the news bigtime

January 4, 2013

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This Jewish author is so very even-handed. You will go with this side and then with the other side and then switch again and again. Things are not completely as they seem and you go on a journey of immersion in 2 cultures, only one prevailing. Years after the book, one of the main participants was involved in a huge federal scam and made national papers for years afterwards. Fascinating and well-written book.

One person found this helpful2 people found this helpful

Left a lot of unanswered questions but I couldn't put it down.

April 18, 2013

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Interesting read though I suspect it took both cultures out of context. There are good and bad in both. I am not sure if the author was seeking an answer to questions about his own beliefs about himself or developed a bias of his own. Whatever, it prompted me to think and do further research. It was worth the time to read it.

One person found this helpful2 people found this helpful

Very interesting and good read.

October 26, 2013

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Very thought provoking. It is easy to jump to conclusions and condemn one side or the other in this dispute based simply upon stereotypes, but after reading the book one gains insights into the thinking and culture of both sides. I was lead to conclude that the issues here were neither black nor white, but varying shades of gray.

One person found this helpful2 people found this helpful

December 13, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

A shame this novel had never been a documentary would have been very interesting to see.

One person found this helpful2 people found this helpful

Excellent Report on a Most Unusual Encounter

September 27, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This is an excellent account. Very well written and insightful. No other book quite like it.

One person found this helpful2 people found this helpful

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