Synopses & Reviews
The dramatic story of the methamphetamine epidemic as it sweeps the American heartlanda timely, moving, very human account of one communitys attempt to battle its way to a brighter future. Crystal methamphetamine is widely considered to be the most dangerous drug in the world, and nowhere is that more true than in the small towns of the American heartland. Methland tells the story of Oelwein, Iowa (pop. 6,159), which, like thousands of other small towns across the country, has been left in the dust by the consolidation of the agricultural industry, a depressed local economy, and an out-migration of people. As if this werent enough to deal with, an incredibly cheap, longlasting, and highly addictive drug has rolled into town.
Over a period of four years, journalist Nick Reding brings us into the heart of Oelwein through a cast of intimately drawn characters, including: Clay Hallburg, the town doctor, who fights meth even as he struggles with his own alcoholism; Nathan Lein, the town prosecutor, whose caseload is filled almost exclusively with meth-related crime; and Jeff Rohrick, a meth addict, still trying to kick the habit after twenty years.
Tracing the connections between the lives touched by the drug and the global forces that set the stage for the epidemic, Methland offers a vital and unique perspective on a pressing contemporary tragedy. Nick Reding is the author of The Last Cowboys at the End of the World, and his writing has appeared in Outside, Food and Wine, and Harpers. Born in St. Louis, he decided to move back to his hometown in the course of reporting this book. Crystal methamphetamine is widely considered to be the most dangerous drug in the world, and nowhere is that more apparent than in the small towns of the American heartland. In Methland, journalist Nick Reding tells the story of Oelwein, Iowa (pop. 6,159), which, like thousands of other rural communities across the country, has been left in the dust by the consolidation of the agricultural industry, a depressed local economy, and an out-migration of people. Now an incredibly cheap, long-lasting, and highly addictive drug has rolled into town.
Through four years of reporting, Reding brings us into the heart of rural America through a cast of intimately drawn characters. Trafficker Lori Arnold is the queen of Midwest crank. Roland Jarvis is a former meatpacking worker who blew up his mother's house while cooking meth. Oelwein's doctor, Clay Hallberg, feels his own life falling apart as he attempts to put that of his town back together. Nathan Lein, the son of farmers, is now the county prosecutor, struggling with what Oelwein has become.
Methland is a portrait not just of a town, but of small-town America on the brink. Centered on one community battling for a brighter future, it reveals the connections between the real-life people touched by the drug epidemic and the global forces behind it. Methland provides a vital perspective on a contemporary tragedy, ultimately offering the very thing that meth once took from Oelwein: hope. This is a strong book, and it tells a complicated story in comprehensible, human dimensions. Like all good journalism, its the hand holding up the mirror, the friend telling us to take a cold, hard look at ourselves.”Los Angeles Times "Think globally, suffer locally. This could be the moral of Methland, Nick Redings unnerving investigative account of . . . Oelwein, Iowa, a railroad and meatpacking town of several thousand whipped by a methamphetamine-laced panic whose origins lie outside the place itself . . . [Reding] introduc[es] a cast of local characters whose trust it must have been a feat to gain, so wobbly and troubled are their lives. Nathan Lein, the crusading county prosecutor, is the 28-year-old son of pious farmers whos come back to Oelwein to help clean up the meth mess after obtaining degrees in philosophy, law and environmental science . . . Manning another fortress against the siege is Dr. Clay Hallberg, Oelweins leading physician . . . In the tradition of James Agees writings on Depression-era sharecroppers, Reding displays the faces of the damned in broken-capillary close-ups . . . Too many scenes of sulfurous agony might chase away the most calloused, ambitious reader, so Reding recounts these nightmares sparingly, surrounding them with stretches of patient journalism tracing the convergence of social vectors that made the meth plague nearly inevitable and its eradication well-nigh impossible. He details, with blunt statistics and apt anecdotes, the vanishing of educated young males from rural Iowa, as well as the butchering of middle-class jobs at the local packing plant . . . 'Vicious cycle' is not an adequate term. As Reding painstakingly presents it, the production, distribution and consumption of methamphetamine is a self-catalyzing catastrophe of Chernobylish dimensions. The rich, with their far-off, insulated lives, get richer and more detached, while the poor get high and, finally, wasted . . . Whats clear is that the golden rolling heartland that Americans used to think symbolized stability beats fitfully and irregularly still and almost certainly remains inclined to seek out sources of chemical optimism. And no one, least of all Reding, who knows whats what on an intimate, human level as well as on the astral plane of globalism, can tell us where it will all end."Walter Kirn, The New York Times Book Review This is a strong book, and it tells a complicated story in comprehensible, human dimensions. Like all good journalism, its the hand holding up the mirror, the friend telling us to take a cold, hard look at ourselves.”Los Angeles Times
The strength of Methland lies in its character studies. As a social problem meth is dull and intractable, as are all such problems; reduced, or rather elevated, to the individual level, it is piercing and poignant.”The Wall Street Journal
"A central myth of our national culture . . . Small-town residents, the story goes, are honest, hard-working, religiously observant and somehow just more American than the rest of America . . . Reding reveals the fallacies of this myth by showing how, over the past three decades, small-town America has been blighted by methamphetamine, which has taken root inand taken hold ofits soul . . . Oelwein serves as a case study of the problems many small towns face today. Once a vibrant farming community where union work and small businesses were plentiful, Oelwein is now struggling through a transition to agribusiness and low-wage employment or, alternatively, unemployment. These conditions, Reding shows, have made the town susceptible to methamphetamine . . . [He] tracks the declineand, ultimately, the limited resurgenceof Oelwein, while also examining the larger forces that have contributed to its problems. He links meth to the gathering power of unregulated capitalism beginning in the 1980's. It was then, he argues, that one-time union employees earning good wages and protected by solid benefits . . . began to see their earnings cut and their benefits disappear. Undocumented migrants began taking jobs at extraordinarily low wages, thereby depressing the cost of labor. Meth, with its opportunity for quick profit and its power to make the most abject and despondent person feel suddenly alive and vibrant, found fertile ground. Meanwhile, in Washington, pharmaceutical lobbyists were working hard to keep DEA agents from attempting to limit access to the raw ingredients; ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, meth's core precursors, were simply too vital to the lucrative allergy-remedy market . . . Reding positions the meth epidemic as the triumph of profits over the safety and prosperity of America's small-town inhabitants. But meth hasn't always been seen as a menace. In fact, Reding explains, 'methamphetamine was once heralded as the drug that would end the need for all others.' First developed by a Japanese chemist at the end of the 19th century, meth was, by the middle of the 20th century, embraced by many in government and industry as a wonder drug . . . Among the biggest culprits in the spread of the meth epidemic, Reding argues, are the media, which, he says, have gone from obliviousness to obsession to a premature declaration of the end of the meth problem, and finally the pronouncement that there never was a meth problem in the first place . . . Methland makes the case that small-town America is perhaps not the moral and hard-working place of the public imagination, but it also argues that big-city ignorancefueled by the mediatoward small-town decay is both dangerous and appalling."The Washington Post
Methland is a stunning look at a problem that has dire consequences for our country.”New York Post
A powerful work of reportage . . . a clear-eyed look at a scourge that continues to afflict wide swaths of American societywhether we want to acknowledge it or not.”Cleveland Plain Dealer
Through scrupulous reporting and fierce moral engagement, Reding conveys the tragedy of the meth epidemic on both a mirco- and macroscopic level.”The Village Voice
Redings group portrait of Oelweins residents is nuanced and complex in a way that journalists depictions of the rural Midwest rarely are; he has a keen eye for details.”The Washington Monthly
Whats most impressive about Methland is not only the wealth of information it provides but the depth of Redings compassion for the individuals meth has touched: the heroes, the helpless witnesses, the innocent victimsand even the perpetratorsof this American crisis.”Francine Prose, O, The Oprah Magazine
Methland tells a story less about crime than about the death of an iconic way of life.”Details Methland is definitely worthwhile reading. In some circles it should be required reading. This isnt just a small town issue or an Iowa issue. This is an American issue.”Oelwein Daily Register
"Methland explains so much that it ought to be read by anyone who is at all interested in why this country continues to divide between rich and poor, educated and un-schooled, rural and urban. Most of all, Methland reminds us that people who confront their devils, inside and out, sometimes find a way to beat them."Bill Bishop, author of The Big Sort: How the Clustering of Like-Minded America Is Tearing Us Apart and coeditor of the Daily Yonder, an online news source from the Center for Rural Strategies
"Using what he calls a 'live-in reporting strategy,' Reding's chronicle of a small-town crystal meth epidemicabout 'the death of a way of life as much as . . . about the birth of a drug'revolves around tiny Oelwein, Iowa, a 6,000-resident farming town nearly destroyed by the one-two punch of Big Agriculture modernization and skyrocketing meth production. Reding's wide cast of characters includes a family doctor, the man 'in the best possible position from which to observe the meth phenomenon'; an addict who blew up his mother's house while cooking the stuff; and Lori Arnold (sister of actor Tom Arnold) who, as a teenager, built an extensive and wildly profitable crank empire in Ottumwa, Iowa (not once, but twice). Reding is at his best relating the bizarre, violent and disturbing stories from four years of research . . . A fascinating read for those with the stomach for it, Reding's unflinching look at a drug's rampage through the heartland stands out in an increasingly crowded field."Publishers Weekly
Review
“[Reding's] immersive reporting and artful writing bring one of the most intractable social issues of our time—the meth epidemic—into visceral, heartbreaking relief.” - Jim Frederick, TIME “Methland tells a story less about crime than about the death of an iconic way of life.” --Details “Methland is definitely worthwhile reading. In some circles it should be required reading. This isnt just a small town issue or an Iowa issue. This is an American issue.” --Oelwein Daily Register “Whats most impressive about Methland is not only the wealth of information it provides but the depth of Redings compassion for the individuals meth has touched: the heroes, the helpless witnesses, the innocent victims--and even the perpetrators--of this American crisis.”--Francine Prose, O Magazine “A powerful work of reportage. . . a clear-eyed look at a scourge that continues to afflict wide swaths of American society--whether we want to acknowledge it or not.”--Cleveland Plain Dealer “‘Vicious cycle is not an adequate term. As Reding painstakingly presents it, the production, distribution and consumption of methamphetamine is a self-catalyzing catastrophe of Chernobylish dimensions. The rich, with their far-off, insulated lives, get richer and more detached, while the poor get high, and finally, wasted.”--Walter Kirn, New York Times Book Review “Methland is a stunning look at a problem that has dire consequences for our country.”--New York Post “The strength of Methland lies in its character studies. As a ‘social problem meth is dull and intractable, as are all such problems; reduced, or rather elevated, to the individual level, it is piercing and poignant. Mr. Redings heart is in the right place.”--Wall Street Journal “Redings group portrait of Oelweins residents is nuanced and complex in a way that journalists depictions of the rural Midwest rarely are; he has a keen eye for details.” --Washington Monthly “Through scrupulous reporting and fierce moral engagement, Reding conveys the tragedy of the meth epidemic on both a mirco- and macroscopic level.”--Village Voice “Methland makes the case that small-town America is perhaps not the moral and hard-working place of the public imagination, but it also argues that big-city ignorance--fueled by the media--toward small town decay is both dangerous and appalling.” --Washington Post “This is a strong book, and it tells a complicated story in comprehensible, human dimensions. Like all good journalism, its the hand holding up the mirror, the friend telling us to take a cold, hard look at ourselves.”--Los Angeles Times "This is a meticulously researched, quietly brilliant and unexpectedly moving account of a towns descent, and of its struggle to pull itself back from the edge." - The Millions, staff pick “Methland paints a new American Gothic, not of artistic and architectural importance but of literary significance, capturing the gloom and decay of once bright and thriving small-town America. Reding is part barefoot epidemiologist, a bit of an armchair anthropologist, and insightful amateur psychologist, an indefatigable road warrior, but most of all, a gifted storyteller who forces readers to suspend reality, placing them among his vivid cast of characters.” - PsycCritiques
Review
“A thoughtful exploration of the methamphetamine epidemic in the context of small-town America. With personal ties to the rural Midwest and to addiction, Reding is sympathetic and humane.” Library Journal
“Reding relates how a few local heroes determinedly fought back and reclaimed the town locals were calling Methlehem. Oelweins story has implications for other rural areas, especially in the Midwest, West, and South, where Redings tale should be vital cautionary reading.” Booklist
“In this richly textured account, Reding traces the astonishing rise of meth use across the Midwest, focusing on Oelwein, an Iowa railroad town (pop. 6,772) that by 2005 had been ‘destroyed by the drug. An important report on an extremely dangerous drug and the consequences of addiction.” Kirkus Reviews
"In the economic vacuum created by the demise of family farms and falling wages at major employers, good jobs disappeared, and methamphetamine manufacture and distribution became the only booming local enterprise [in Oelwein], attended by increased crime, domestic abuse, and other pathologies. The situation was spiraling out of control. Reding relates how Lein and a few other local heroes determinedly fought back and reclaimed the town locals were calling Methlehem. Oelweins story has implications for other rural areas, especially in the Midwest, West, and South, where Redings tale should be vital cautionary reading." - Booklist
"A thoughtful exploration of the methamphetamine epidemic in the context of small-town America, this work centers on tiny Oelwein, IA, a microcosm of the devastating dynamic among rural life, economic instability, and meth. Reding studies macro-level forces, from the international drug trade to the influence of interest groups on U.S. regulatory activity. He traces the allure of meth production and consumption, faulting economic disadvantage and, in turn, the consolidation of the American food industry. The book's power derives, however, from the immediacy and everyday reality of one small town, where Reding immerses himself, spending months with several heroic if hardly perfect residents--the doctor, prosecutor, and mayor--and two local meth addicts. With personal ties to the rural Midwest and to addiction, Reding is sympathetic and humane. He leaves Oelwein in the midst of a fragile but hopeful renaissance, with a new industrial park, library, and expanded downtown. The awareness remains that ruin can arrive anytime, by means of a drug that can be made in a kitchen sink." - Library Journal
"Nightmarish story of methamphetamine in rural America... In this richly textured account, Reding traces the astonishing rise of meth use across the Midwest, focusing on Oelwein, an Iowa railroad town that by 2005 had been “destroyed” by the drug... Reding vividly re-creates the despair of a place overtaken by methits storefronts boarded, its frequently exploding meth labs belching toxins, its streets used to manufacture meth in bottles strapped to mountain bikes, its Do Drop Inn transformed into a meeting place for addicts... Reding also shows how pharmaceutical-industry lobbyists blocked anti-meth legislation until passage of the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005though even that act fails to prevent meth makers from obtaining cold medications at drugstores....An important report on an extremely dangerous drug and the consequences of addiction." - Kirkus
Synopsis
The dramatic story of the methamphetamine epidemic as it sweeps the American heartland — a timely, moving, very human account of one community's attempt to battle its way to a brighter future.
Crystal methamphetamine is widely considered to be the most dangerous drug in the world, and nowhere is that more true than in the small towns of the American heartland. Methland tells the story of Oelwein, Iowa (pop. 6,159), which, like thousands of other small towns across the country, has been left in the dust by the consolidation of the agricultural industry, a depressed local economy, and an out-migration of people. As if this weren't enough to deal with, an incredibly cheap, longlasting, and highly addictive drug has rolled into town.
Over a period of four years, journalist Nick Reding brings us into the heart of Oelwein through a cast of intimately drawn characters, including: Clay Hallburg, the town doctor, who fights meth even as he struggles with his own alcoholism; Nathan Lein, the town prosecutor, whose caseload is filled almost exclusively with meth-related crime; and Jeff Rohrick, a meth addict, still trying to kick the habit after twenty years.
Tracing the connections between the lives touched by the drug and the global forces that set the stage for the epidemic, Methland offers a vital and unique perspective on a pressing contemporary tragedy.
Synopsis
Crystal methamphetamine is widely considered to be the most dangerous drug in the world, and nowhere is that more true than in the small towns of the American heartland. "Methland" is the story of the drug as it infiltrates the community of Oelwein, Iowa (pop. 6,159), a once-thriving farming and railroad community. Tracing the connections between the lives touched by meth and the global forces that have set the stage for the epidemic, "Methland" offers a vital and unique perspective on a pressing contemporary tragedy.
Oelwein, Iowa is like thousand of other small towns across the county. It has been left in the dust by the consolidation of the agricultural industry, a depressed local economy and an out-migration of people. If this wasn't enough to deal with, an incredibly cheap, long-lasting, and highly addictive drug has come to town, touching virtually everyone's lives. Journalist Nick Reding reported this story over a period of four years, and he brings us into the heart of the town through an ensemble cast of intimately drawn characters, including: Clay Hallburg, the town doctor, who fights meth even as he struggles with his own alcoholism; Nathan Lein, the town prosecutor, whose case load is filled almost exclusively with meth-related crime, and Jeff Rohrick, who is still trying to kick a meth habit after four years.
"Methland" is a portrait of a community under siege, of the lives the drug has devastated, and of the heroes who continue to fight the war. It will appeal to readers of David Sheff's bestselling "Beautiful Boy," and serve as inspiration for those who believe in the power of everyday people to change their world for the better.
Synopsis
Methland tells the story of Oelwein, Iowa, which, like thousands of other small towns across the country, has been affected by one of the most dangerous drugs in the world.
Synopsis
The dramatic story of the methamphetamine epidemic as it sweeps the American heartlanda timely, moving, very human account of one communitys attempt to battle its way to a brighter future. Crystal methamphetamine is widely considered to be the most dangerous drug in the world, and nowhere is that more true than in the small towns of the American heartland. Methland tells the story of Oelwein, Iowa (pop. 6,159), which, like thousands of other small towns across the country, has been left in the dust by the consolidation of the agricultural industry, a depressed local economy, and an out-migration of people. As if this werent enough to deal with, an incredibly cheap, longlasting, and highly addictive drug has rolled into town.
Over a period of four years, journalist Nick Reding brings us into the heart of Oelwein through a cast of intimately drawn characters, including: Clay Hallburg, the town doctor, who fights meth even as he struggles with his own alcoholism; Nathan Lein, the town prosecutor, whose caseload is filled almost exclusively with meth-related crime; and Jeff Rohrick, a meth addict, still trying to kick the habit after twenty years.
Tracing the connections between the lives touched by the drug and the global forces that set the stage for the epidemic, Methland offers a vital and unique perspective on a pressing contemporary tragedy. Nick Reding is the author of The Last Cowboys at the End of the World, and his writing has appeared in Outside, Food and Wine, and Harpers. Born in St. Louis, he decided to move back to his hometown in the course of reporting this book. Crystal methamphetamine is widely considered to be the most dangerous drug in the world, and nowhere is that more apparent than in the small towns of the American heartland. In Methland, journalist Nick Reding tells the story of Oelwein, Iowa (pop. 6,159), which, like thousands of other rural communities across the country, has been left in the dust by the consolidation of the agricultural industry, a depressed local economy, and an out-migration of people. Now an incredibly cheap, long-lasting, and highly addictive drug has rolled into town.
Through four years of reporting, Reding brings us into the heart of rural America through a cast of intimately drawn characters. Trafficker Lori Arnold is the queen of Midwest crank. Roland Jarvis is a former meatpacking worker who blew up his mother's house while cooking meth. Oelwein's doctor, Clay Hallberg, feels his own life falling apart as he attempts to put that of his town back together. Nathan Lein, the son of farmers, is now the county prosecutor, struggling with what Oelwein has become.
Methland is a portrait not just of a town, but of small-town America on the brink. Centered on one community battling for a brighter future, it reveals the connections between the real-life people touched by the drug epidemic and the global forces behind it. Methland provides a vital perspective on a contemporary tragedy, ultimately offering the very thing that meth once took from Oelwein: hope. “This is a strong book, and it tells a complicated story in comprehensible, human dimensions. Like all good journalism, its the hand holding up the mirror, the friend telling us to take a cold, hard look at ourselves.”Los Angeles Times "Think globally, suffer locally. This could be the moral of Methland, Nick Redings unnerving investigative account of . . . Oelwein, Iowa, a railroad and meatpacking town of several thousand whipped by a methamphetamine-laced panic whose origins lie outside the place itself . . . [Reding] introduc[es] a cast of local characters whose trust it must have been a feat to gain, so wobbly and troubled are their lives. Nathan Lein, the crusading county prosecutor, is the 28-year-old son of pious farmers whos come back to Oelwein to help clean up the meth mess after obtaining degrees in philosophy, law and environmental science . . . Manning another fortress against the siege is Dr. Clay Hallberg, Oelweins leading physician . . . In the tradition of James Agees writings on Depression-era sharecroppers, Reding displays the faces of the damned in broken-capillary close-ups . . . Too many scenes of sulfurous agony might chase away the most calloused, ambitious reader, so Reding recounts these nightmares sparingly, surrounding them with stretches of patient journalism tracing the convergence of social vectors that made the meth plague nearly inevitable and its eradication well-nigh impossible. He details, with blunt statistics and apt anecdotes, the vanishing of educated young males from rural Iowa, as well as the butchering of middle-class jobs at the local packing plant . . . 'Vicious cycle' is not an adequate term. As Reding painstakingly presents it, the production, distribution and consumption of methamphetamine is a self-catalyzing catastrophe of Chernobylish dimensions. The rich, with their far-off, insulated lives, get richer and more detached, while the poor get high and, finally, wasted . . . Whats clear is that the golden rolling heartland that Americans used to think symbolized stability beats fitfully and irregularly still and almost certainly remains inclined to seek out sources of chemical optimism. And no one, least of all Reding, who knows whats what on an intimate, human level as well as on the astral plane of globalism, can tell us where it will all end."Walter Kirn, The New York Times Book Review “This is a strong book, and it tells a complicated story in comprehensible, human dimensions. Like all good journalism, its the hand holding up the mirror, the friend telling us to take a cold, hard look at ourselves.”Los Angeles Times
“The strength of Methland lies in its character studies. As a ‘social problem meth is dull and intractable, as are all such problems; reduced, or rather elevated, to the individual level, it is piercing and poignant.”The Wall Street Journal
"A central myth of our national culture . . . Small-town residents, the story goes, are honest, hard-working, religiously observant and somehow just more American than the rest of America . . . Reding reveals the fallacies of this myth by showing how, over the past three decades, small-town America has been blighted by methamphetamine, which has taken root inand taken hold ofits soul . . . Oelwein serves as a case study of the problems many small towns face today. Once a vibrant farming community where union work and small businesses were plentiful, Oelwein is now struggling through a transition to agribusiness and low-wage employment or, alternatively, unemployment. These conditions, Reding shows, have made the town susceptible to methamphetamine . . . [He] tracks the declineand, ultimately, the limited resurgenceof Oelwein, while also examining the larger forces that have contributed to its problems. He links meth to the gathering power of unregulated capitalism beginning in the 1980's. It was then, he argues, that one-time union employees earning good wages and protected by solid benefits . . . began to see their earnings cut and their benefits disappear. Undocumented migrants began taking jobs at extraordinarily low wages, thereby d
Synopsis
The dramatic story of the methamphetamine epidemic as it sweeps the American heartlanda timely, moving, very human account of one communitys attempt to battle its way to a brighter future. Crystal methamphetamine is widely considered to be the most dangerous drug in the world, and nowhere is that more true than in the small towns of the American heartland. Methland tells the story of Oelwein, Iowa (pop. 6,159), which, like thousands of other small towns across the country, has been left in the dust by the consolidation of the agricultural industry, a depressed local economy, and an out-migration of people. As if this werent enough to deal with, an incredibly cheap, longlasting, and highly addictive drug has rolled into town.
Over a period of four years, journalist Nick Reding brings us into the heart of Oelwein through a cast of intimately drawn characters, including: Clay Hallburg, the town doctor, who fights meth even as he struggles with his own alcoholism; Nathan Lein, the town prosecutor, whose caseload is filled almost exclusively with meth-related crime; and Jeff Rohrick, a meth addict, still trying to kick the habit after twenty years.
Tracing the connections between the lives touched by the drug and the global forces that set the stage for the epidemic, Methland offers a vital and unique perspective on a pressing contemporary tragedy. Nick Reding is the author of The Last Cowboys at the End of the World, and his writing has appeared in Outside, Food and Wine, and Harpers. Born in St. Louis, he decided to move back to his hometown in the course of reporting this book. Crystal methamphetamine is widely considered to be the most dangerous drug in the world, and nowhere is that more apparent than in the small towns of the American heartland. In Methland, journalist Nick Reding tells the story of Oelwein, Iowa (pop. 6,159), which, like thousands of other rural communities across the country, has been left in the dust by the consolidation of the agricultural industry, a depressed local economy, and an out-migration of people. Now an incredibly cheap, long-lasting, and highly addictive drug has rolled into town.
Through four years of reporting, Reding brings us into the heart of rural America through a cast of intimately drawn characters. Trafficker Lori Arnold is the queen of Midwest crank. Roland Jarvis is a former meatpacking worker who blew up his mother's house while cooking meth. Oelwein's doctor, Clay Hallberg, feels his own life falling apart as he attempts to put that of his town back together. Nathan Lein, the son of farmers, is now the county prosecutor, struggling with what Oelwein has become.
Methland is a portrait not just of a town, but of small-town America on the brink. Centered on one community battling for a brighter future, it reveals the connections between the real-life people touched by the drug epidemic and the global forces behind it. Methland provides a vital perspective on a contemporary tragedy, ultimately offering the very thing that meth once took from Oelwein: hope. “‘Vicious cycle is not an adequate term. As Reding painstakingly presents it, the production, distribution and consumption of methamphetamine is a self-catalyzing catastrophe of Chernobylish dimensions. The rich, with their far-off, insulated lives, get richer and more detached, while the poor get high, and finally, wasted.”Walter Kirn, The New York Times Book Review “This is a strong book, and it tells a complicated story in comprehensible, human dimensions. Like all good journalism, its the hand holding up the mirror, the friend telling us to take a cold, hard look at ourselves.”Los Angeles Times
“The strength of Methland lies in its character studies. As a ‘social problem meth is dull and intractable, as are all such problems; reduced, or rather elevated, to the individual level, it is piercing and poignant. Mr. Redings heart is in the right place.”The Wall Street Journal
“Methland makes the case that small-town America is perhaps not the moral and hard-working place of the public imagination, but it also argues that big-city ignorancefueled by the mediatoward small town decay is both dangerous and appalling.”The Washington Post
“Methland is a stunning look at a problem that has dire consequences for our country.”New York Post
“A powerful work of reportage . . . a clear-eyed look at a scourge that continues to afflict wide swaths of American societywhether we want to acknowledge it or not.”Cleveland Plain Dealer
“Through scrupulous reporting and fierce moral engagement, Reding conveys the tragedy of the meth epidemic on both a mirco- and macroscopic level.”The Village Voice
“Redings group portrait of Oelweins residents is nuanced and complex in a way that journalists depictions of the rural Midwest rarely are; he has a keen eye for details.”The Washington Monthly
“Whats most impressive about Methland is not only the wealth of information it provides but the depth of Redings compassion for the individuals meth has touched: the heroes, the helpless witnesses, the innocent victimsand even the perpetratorsof this American crisis.”Francine Prose, O, The Oprah Magazine
“Methland tells a story less about crime than about the death of an iconic way of life.”Details “Methland is definitely worthwhile reading. In some circles it should be required reading. This isnt just a small town issue or an Iowa issue. This is an American issue.”Oelwein Daily Register
"Methland explains so much that it ought to be read by anyone who is at all interested in why this country continues to divide between rich and poor, educated and un-schooled, rural and urban. Most of all, Methland reminds us that people who confront their devils, inside and out, sometimes find a way to beat them."Bill Bishop, author of The Big Sort: How the Clustering of Like-Minded America Is Tearing Us Apart and coeditor of the Daily Yonder, an online news source from the Center for Rural Strategies
Synopsis
The bestselling book that launched meth back into the nation's consciousness. Based on Reding's four years of reporting in the agricultural town of Oelwein, Iowa, and tracing the connections to the global forces that set the stage for the meth epidemic, Methland offers a vital perspective on a contemporary tragedy. It is a portrait of a community under siege, of the lives that meth has devastated, and of the heroes who continue to fight the war.
About the Author
Nick Reding is the author of The Last Cowboys at the End of the World, and his writing has appeared in Outside, Food and Wine, and Harper's. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, he decided to move back to his home town in the course of reporting this book.