Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town (Hardcove... Cover Art

Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town (Hardcover)

By: Nick Reding (Author)


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Review

"As Reding painstakingly presents it, the production, distribution and consumption of methamphetamine is a self-catalyzing catastrophe of Chernobylish dimensions. The rich...get richer and more detached, while the poor get high and, finally, wasted."

"METHLAND...is a stunning look at a problem that has dire consequences for our country."

"In his persuasive new book,...journalist Nick Reding....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."

Publisher's note

Traces the efforts of a small Iowa community to counter the pervasiveness of crystal methamphetamine, in an account that offers insight into the drug's appeal while chronicling the author's numerous visits with the town's doctor, the local prosecutor, and a long-time addict.

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.

Annotation

Nick Reding provides a fascinating biography of Oelwein, Iowa, a small town which was beset by an influx of bootleg crystal methamphetamine manufacturers, who were drawn to its isolated locale and impoverished social standing. Reding reveals how this addictive epidemic has altered the lives of various Oelwein characters, including debilitated criminals, disfigured speed freaks, a good-hearted local doctor, and a hard-nosed sheriff. In addition to these compelling individual stories, Reding's cogent examination of the rise of this poisonous substance also reveals how several major pharmaceutical companies have actively blocked legislation which would make it more difficult to purchase the cold medicines necessary to produce the deadly drug.



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