Denison, Iowa: Searching for the Soul of America Through the Secrets of a Midwest Town

Dale Maharidge, a former newspaper reporter, brings a well-rounded account of how cultural change presses upon the lives of a few citizens in a small town in Western Iowa. This book fascinated me. I think it did so because of how well it oscillates between the worlds of economic development and narrative non-fiction. I have read "And Their Children After Them," but this book is cut from something finer. Maharidge has wandered into the disparate lives of many of Denison's people. He even weaves a fable into the broader message of the story. There is a story about a white buffalo that comes back to haunt the white settlers who made victims of the Native Americans who once roamed the plains. Maharidge suggests that the waves of Central Americans and Mexicans, who happen to often have Indian blood, represent a reclaiming of the Plains by the Native Americans. I lived in a small town like Denison for a year. In this case, it was Marshall, Missouri. Like Denison, Marshall relied on meatpacking. The town had beautiful homes on Arrow Street and a great past. The future, though, was clearly going to be different. The schools were full of Hispanics and Pacific Islander immigrants whose parents came to work in the slaughterhouses. It was a better life for the newcomers. The problem in Denison, and in Marshall, is the one that Maharidge so eloquently captures. How do you get the existing townspeople to recognize that they must change or wither? Maharidge sees great hope in the ambition of immigrants like Luis Navar, a man who wants to become an independent contractor. At the same time, the long-time resident serving his lunch at the Hy-Vee disappoints Maharidge. She sees the newcomers as separate from the real members of Denison. "The White Buffalo is going to eat you alive," thinks Maharidge. Cultural change is the new mandate of globalization. It is a hard lesson to adopt. That resistance is not just in the lunch counter servers. The same Navar clashes with the leaders of the town over contracts to repair a famous building. The town's leaders, in a poor moment, reward the contract through a shady backroom deal. Going back to how this book is fascinating as piece of Journalism, Maharidge lives well beyond the constraints of news reporting. He develops a compassion to achieve his explanatory journalism. The book even discusses some of the difficult interpersonal decisions that portrayers of a place are confronted with as they work. Maharidge includes the stories of the townsfolk who wanted to befriend him beyond the point of comfort. I would recommend this book to students of documentary journalism. This is such a better treatment of the topic of journalist-subject relationships than one might find in Janet Malcolm's "The Journalist and the Murderer." Whereas Malcolm picks apart the journalist as a seducer, Maharidge shows more of the reason for why a journalist must make friends in order to gain the trust that is

While I loved this book, there are those here who despised it. The writing is excellent, the stories are true, and I discovered we are more interesting than I had previously thought! As Denison continues to change and grow, be advised that the spirit of Donna Reed is alive and well. While I am not a native Denisonian, it is a really great place to live. When you read this book - and you really should - you'll be interested to know that Nathan Mahrt was just (11/8) elected Mayor by quite a substantial margin. I think Maharidge should come back in about five years and write a sequel!

I live 15 minutes from Denison so this book was lauded as a must read. That is exactly what it is. For all of us to take a few minutes and understand how the small towns work. Why some of us are here and how the towns are changing and wondering what will become of them. I for one think someday they will be a thing of the past but, I hope that as in Dale's eyes just maybe it is the time of the white buffalo. I highly recommend this book to all who question life. I am so glad to finally know what happened to the night man. May his soul rest in peace.

On occasion, I read two books at about the same time which can be an "odd couple" indeed. For example, this book and New York Stories. As editor of the latter, Constance Rosenblum focuses on what she characterizes as the "glories, frustrations, and peculiar appeal" of New York City and the same can be said of Maharidge's perspectives on Denison. Although there are many stunning differences between the two cultures, both exemplify the best and worst of what is often referred to as the "American Experience." With regard to this book, it is the latest of several collaborations by Maharidge and Williamson. In this instance, we accompany them during their search for "the soul of America through the secrets of a midwestern town." I do not recall being in Denison specifically but as described so vividly by Maharidge, the town seems very familiar...especially when I look at Michael Williamson's photographs. I am reminded of countless other small towns in the Midwest I visited in my childhood and adolescence, and then later while in college. Of course, they changed a great deal during subsequent decades (as have I) and that is one of the most fascinating subjects (among many) in this book. Children are born, grow up, and then most leave as soon as they can for better jobs, brighter lights, a faster pace, etc. A "dying" town is one which loses appeal to its youth as its economy irrevocably declines. There are more burials than baptisms. (This process of deterioration is effectively portrayed in Larry McMurty's novels The Last Picture Show and its sequel, Texasville, as well as in films based on them.) Many of those who remain have nowhere else to go or lack the desire to seek a better life elsewhere. Here are some key facts: About 60% of the state's college graduates leave. Denison's population is almost 8,000. Latinos comprise about 25% of that number. Meat packing plants are the backbone of Denison's economy. Maharidge and Williamson lived in Denison for a year. Most residents seem willing, at times eager to share their thoughts and feelings. Maharidge adds his own opinions from time to time, when appropriate. He also provides relevant historical information to establish a frame-of-reference. Denison adopted "It's a Wonderful Life" as its motto. As for that civic motto, proudly featured on a water tower, it is explained by the fact that Donna Reed is a native of Denison. As Maharidge suggests, the motto is true of many residents but certainly not of all. Similar to so many other small towns throughout the United States, Denison is in the midst of an especially difficult transition. With all due respect to the significance of shifting demographics, Maharidge and Williamson concentrate almost entirely on specific residents and what appear to be their representative human experiences. The "secrets" to which the subtitle refers are best revealed within the narrative. Of all the people with whom Maharidge and Williamson associated for more than a ye

"Denison" is an essential book about America's trajectory, years ahead of its time; Maharidge is a keen observer and analyst. In his 1990s "The Coming White Minority," the author coined language about the US turning "brown around the edges," meaning that immigration showed itself most notably along borders and coasts where ports are located -- without the whites realizing their decline into racial minority in California, for example. But now he's turned that theory inside out -- rightly chronicling the racial, economic, and societal change roiling small-town America and invisible to a mainstream press hungry for cheap sound bytes. Maharidge did not parachute into Iowa but instead set aside one year of his life to experience and contribute to a forgotten hamlet. He lived in a derelict house with predatory ghosts, stuffing his windows with old clothing against the prairie wind and lying awake, alone, through train whistles screaming through the night and valley below him. He taught English as a second language to newcomers from Mexico who worked in the meatpacking plant while rebuffing advances from lonely midwestern women. He saw prejudice carried on through forgotten history, and also the rewards not only of a new, mostly Hispanic generation's industry, but also in the passions of the old guard -- represented by an open-minded young Denisonite's identity with his homeland. Read this book to step into the minds and hearts of everyday Americans, old and new. Conflict, sorrow, hope, and faith merge in a book that will propel Maharidge to yet higher achievements.