Denison, Iowa, is as close to the heart of Middle America as it gets. The hometown of Donna Reed, Denison has adopted "It's a wonderful life" as its slogan and painted the phrase on the water tower that hovers over everything in town. And in many respects, life is pretty good here: it's a quiet town, a great place to raise children; the crime rate is low, the schools strong. It's home to the county's only Wal-Mart and a factory that does a booming business in antiterrorism barriers. For outsiders looking in, there is something familiar and comforting about Denison — it conforms to the picture of the wholesome, corn-fed heartland which we as a nation cherish and which we think we know so well.

But something new and unfamiliar is happening in Denison, and traditional viewpoints and partisan labels don't quite capture it. The change goes beyond the post-9/11 loss of innocence; the sense of unease and, in some cases, of rebirth began well before 2001. Relations between the growing Latino population and the established Anglo citizenry are not always smooth. The industries that still predominate have become a mixed blessing for many people — in the 1980s the meat-processing plant, for instance, froze wages, and they have remained basically static to this day.

For many years, Dale Maharidge and Michael Williamson have made it their business to document interior America. In 1990 they won the Pulitzer Prize for their book And Their Children After Them, a conscious homage to the 1941 classic Let Us Now Praise Famous Men by James Agee and Walker Evans. To gather their observations and insights on Denison, Maharidge and Williamson lived there for a year, spending time among the 8,000 people who live, love, work, run for office, go to school, and sometimes struggle to get by there. From the Lutheran woman who singlehandedly teaches English to Latino immigrants seeking grueling work in meatpacking plants to the leaders who struggle to rescue the community from economic ruin to the Latino businessman whose career is saved by two white men risking the wrath of small-town politics, the author and photographer trace the intersections of lives, the successes and failures, the real stories beneath Denison's mom-and-apple-pie surface.

Through Maharidge's gorgeous, plainspoken prose and Williamson's stunning photography, we are privy to a sweeping perspective layered with a microscopic depth of observation, and a searingly honest portrait tempered by heartfelt compassion. Denison, Iowa is a big, beautiful book about a small town at a critical time in our history — and it's the crowning work of a brilliant, quarter-century partnership.

"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 PW. Agent, James Fitzgerald. (Sept. 12)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"Denison, Iowa is a work of prophetic journalism....What emerges is a moving, cautionary tale for American times to come." John Phillip Santos, author of Places Left Unfinished at the Time of Creation

"If you want to find out what much of small-town rural America is all about, read this book. Dale Maharidge lifts the lid to a simmering stew of racism, greed, isolation, gossip, and — yes — true American spirit. Maharidge nails it all in Denison, Iowa." Stephen G. Bloom, author of Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America

"Denison, Iowa comes to life when the townspeople reflect on their struggles, their hopes and their fears....When Mr. Maharidge keeps his nose to the ground he does fine. When he steps back to look at the big picture he often stumbles." New York Times

"...Maharidge has a stunted imagination when Denison cries out for just the opposite.... In the end, perhaps it's best Denison remain anonymous." San Francisco Chronicle

"This is a book that will remain fresh and important for a long time." Denver Post

A critically acclaimed author and photographer of the Pultizer Prize-winning book And Their Children After Them present an illuminating new work that turns a searing lens on America's heartland.

Dale Maharidge is a journalist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of And Their Children After Them, Journey to Nowhere, The Last Great American Hobo, and Homeland. A visiting professor of journalism at Columbia University, he lives in Northern California and New York City.

The White Buffalo

PART ONE: SUMMER

The Grotesques
La Maestra I
Secrets
An American Story I

PART TWO: FALL

Willard's Diary
Prairie Passions
Concerning the Old Man
Concerning the Country Woman
Concerning the Night Man I
The Land
Uptown
La Maestra II
An American Story II

PART THREE: WINTER

Willard's Diary
Part I: The Night of the Templeton Rye
Al Capone's Whiskey
Concerning the Night Man II
Part II: Lust, Love, Money, Crime
Naked Pioneers and Copulating Stallions
Book 'Em Dano
Concerning the Tater-Tot Casserole Boy
Love Across Lines
Concerning the Banker
Concerning the Prosecutor
Opposition
Life in a Small Town
The Ghost and Wal-Mart Present
The Ghost Speaks
La Maestra III
Homeland and the Heartland

PART FOUR: SPRING AND EARLY SUMMER

Willard's Diary
Dead Donna
The Festival
Fame
Concerning the Meth Freak
Concerning the Blue-Collar Couple
Concerning Kate Swift: She Reveals a Truth About Denison
An American Story III
La Maestra IV
They Shoot Buffalo, Don't They?
The Buffalo Triumphs
Acknowledgments
About the Authors