Tom and Huck Don't Live Here Anymore: Childhood and Murder in the Heart of America

Ron Powers is concerned about the young people of the United States. He's not alone in that. His interest is immediate and rather local. He worries about the events in his home town of Hannibal, Missouri. Sorry, i should have typed "Home Town", since Powers accepts the assertion that his native city is the model for others in his country. "America's Home Town" implies a small municipality dominated by a white, middle-class, "God"-fearing, clean-living population. The images of such places dominated the media for generations. That image has been tarnished - in this case by the killings of two elderly men in Powers' birthplace. He went there to investigate what had happened. This book is the result of his journey. With an expressive journalist's style, Powers depicts the demise of James Walker and J.D. Poage. The weapon that took the life of the latter was a shotgun. The first man was killed by - a car door. Both were "intentional" killings, although "premeditated" doesn't seem to apply. The distinction is important because Powers, in trying to delve into minds of the children who took those lives, understands the killings were nearly "mindless". They were events "of the moment" and Powers tries to explain the foundation of those moments. He is certain they could have been avoided. In order to learn whether there were any "decisive steps" in the lives of the four teen-agers who perpetrated the killings, Powers spends much time in Hannibal and the surrounding communities, interviewing victims' relations, the killers' parents and friends and attending the subsequent trials. What he learns is revealing - in many ways. The growth of the US economy has resulted in severe dislocations in those traditional "values" associated with the "Home Town". Powers cites statistics of single-parent families or homes where both parents work. Sometimes the job is far from the outlying home, resulting in day-care centres running twelve to sixteen hours each day from six in the morning. These day-care centres are dismally underfunded and little considered even by parents. City governments are averse to providing resources to avoid the stigma of high taxes. Older children, past the traditional day-care age are at loose ends. Those unable to afford computers or video games lack even that electronic "baby-sitting" service. They are deserted to find their own way in uncaring communities. Without parenting, these children are left to their own devices for long periods. Drugs and sex are common escapes, as the children in this account demonstrate. Murder or mayhem become easily attempted ventures, as the story of these children illustrates vividly. In following these children, interviewing their parents and the townsfolk, Powers has given us a stirring account of what the US has become. The murder of two men almost pales by comparison with the sequence of school shootings and other violent rampages that occurred in the same period. This being Hannibal, Powers can't avoid p

Ofttimes, an author brings a greater depth of understanding to a reading of his work than does a professional actor. Such is the case with Powers' reading of his latest offering, a sad but necessary visit to Hannibal, Missouri, the hometown he shares with Mark Twain. The focus of this story is not a carefree, innocent childhood largely spent on the banks of the Mississippi, but rather heinous crimes committed by teenagers. Powers interweaves his personal odyssey, Twain's story, and the contemporary tragedies to form a compelling true tale which asks what has happened to our children? The author, a Pulitzer Prize-winner and co-author of "Flags Of Our Fathers," interviewed the victim's relatives, neighbors, family members, and the teenagers themselves. Ace reporter that he is, Powers has delivered an accurate and astounding story. The current events are compounded by the author's own experiences at the hands of an abusive father, a Fuller Brushman. This is not a pleasant tale, but it is one that needs to be heard. Few who hear it will remain unchanged. - Gail Cooke

A compelling non-fiction work that rivals MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL. Its masterful writing weaves together three related themes: the author's own childhood experience in Hannibal, MO, the author's investigation of murders at the hands of teens, and Sam Clemens' growing-up story form a multi-level tapestry bound together by the Tom and Huck imagery in "America's home town." The urgent questions about how we are raising our children -- perhaps never more timely -- are presented with thoughtful perspective rather than didactic prescription. The author's own voice as the *reader* is perfect. His experience as media reviewer on CBS' Sunday Morning show shines through.

I have never lived in Hannibal, but I've visited many times and have family roots in the Mississippi Valley.I thought this book was first-rate, combining sociological analysis, personal memories and interviews naturally and effectively. I don't really fault Powers for not proposing solutions to the problems he documents -- I can't think of any myself.As Powers perceptively points out, the earlier pattern of small-town life, rich in community spirit, was itself dependent on economic conditions. An economy based on railroads, small-scale manufacturing, agriculture, and farm-to-market trade reinforced the sort of "Main Street USA" culture portrayed by Twain and (in ghastly parody) in various theme parks starting with Disneyland. Families in those days were strong not because people were better than we are now, but because in such an economy -- with child labor in both field and factory -- cooperation paid off.The perfect economic human of the 19th or early 20th century was rooted to place, connected to local institutions, and enmeshed in a web of economic and social relationships with people s/he new face to face. The perfect economic human of our time is cruising an anonymous highway, looking for that same great burger from coast-to-coast. Connections to place, to the neighbors...? All that is now swimming against the tide in an economy which makes us into mindless consumers before our milk teeth fall out.Definitely worth reading if you are interested in issues of community in America or in the culture of the Mississippi Valley.

Anyone who enjoys journalism as storytelling after the fashion of John McPhee, or who appreciates strongly voiced narrative nonfiction in the style of Tracy Kidder, simply must become acquainted with Ron Powers's work. In TOM AND HUCK DON'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE (...), Powers brilliantly blends reporting, narrative and memoir to create a powerful chronicle of an American community under siege, a riveting crime story, a sad portrait of childhood in America, and ultimately a sort of hybrid memoir that brings home the themes of the book like a river coming home to the sea. This is Powers's greatest work yet.(...)