Superior, Nebraska: The Common Sense Values of America's Heartland

I've been a fan and a friend of Denis Boyles for many years, but even if he was a random stranger I would have enjoyed his thoughtful examination of a place that many Americans only see from the windows of pressurized cabins. There is a lot of life and complexity on the Great Plains. Boyles has written this fascinating country a witty love letter that is part memoir, part reportage and all heart. Read this book.

It is an excellent book, well-researched, insightful, beautifully written. Denis Boyles is eloquent. The intelligence of this book lies in the topics that Boyles selected... things we face and want to understand better -- politics, intelligent design, evolution, school funding, rural life, helpfulness and good government.

Many voters in the urban mega-centers of the U.S. tend to question the intelligence of voters in the Heartland. Denis Boyles artfully explains why voters in the Heartland tend to be independent in their thinking and actions. This includes their view that people should not reply on big government, but should work out their own problems when possible. Boyles cites many examples that take place daily in small towns in Nebraska and Kansas. A must read for those who live in Red States and those in the Blue States who would like to understand the politics of Red State voters.

Denis Boyles' affectionate portrayal of life in the heartland is not merely an exercise in sentiment (Boyles spent his boyhood summers in and around Superior, Nebraska (as did I)--hence, the title of the book.) Though the author is brimming with fond memories of his youth, he weaves his lively recollections together with current research into the thoughts, wit, and wisdom of the people who animate the small towns along the Kansas/Nebraska border. The result is an entertaining and insightful look at distinctly Midwestern values like faith, family, civility, and community. Boyles' shortand for this collection of attributes is "common sense." He says that it is the region's most abundant commodity and, "Too bad it doesn't come in barrels, because there's a huge reservoir of the stuff out there . . . ." The author uses numerous interviews to help us get to know the people who shape the culture of this often overlooked (and expansive) part of America. He also does top-notch reporting on a number of contemporary debates that raged recently in Kansas--from court intrusion into public education funding to the state school board's row over "science" standards. (How dare those "conservatives" point out that Darwin's theory is a . . . theory?) The book makes you want to visit places like Concordia, Lindsborg, McCook and Superior and meet their salt of the earth, three-dimensional inhabitants. Not a bad idea. By doing so, maybe a little of their common sense values would rub off on the rest of us. Overall, a superior read.

Great book with a good look at life in the midwest. My whole family loved the book.