Methland The Death and Life of an American Small Town (Audible Audio Edition) Nick Reding Mark Boyett Audible Studios Books
Download As PDF : Methland The Death and Life of an American Small Town (Audible Audio Edition) Nick Reding Mark Boyett Audible Studios Books
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, long lasting, 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 20 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.
Methland The Death and Life of an American Small Town (Audible Audio Edition) Nick Reding Mark Boyett Audible Studios Books
This book will depress you, but you get the information you need to understand. The underbelly of our Capitalist system has the habit of creating nice industrial towns that last for decades, and then along comes globalization and technology and these places get discarded into the pile of the forgotten and neglected. A cheap chemical, as the Soma pill from the Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, comes in and becomes the the way of life. Big Pharma and Big Agriculture and the devils in this book. Oh, by the way, this is a non-fiction work.Product details
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Methland The Death and Life of an American Small Town (Audible Audio Edition) Nick Reding Mark Boyett Audible Studios Books Reviews
Methland paints a dismle portrait of what the "fly over states" deal with when their single industry run town goes out of business via a hostile take over. Rampent unemployeement during the reagan years feeds directly into the meth epidemic that still exists today.
The poor, left without hope, working double and triple shift wage slave jobs while trying to make ends meet and raise a family in a failed local economy choose to either take meth to get them throu that same triple shift or sell it because there is no work or don't make enough.
Reading between the lines, the author paints an inglorious picture of what middle America finds itself in. A place created by Union destroying venture captialists who leave a wake of broken dreams behind. And the vacuum is filled by low wage jobs, which then is supplimented by the sale or use of meth.
Want to fix the meth problem? stop outsourcing jobs, stop people from voting against their own best interests, and get rid of citizens united rulling which put corporations ahead of the people of this nation.
read this book.
I guess the first thing I would say to anyone considering reading this book is can you stomach a truly scary story, especially knowing it's real? Even though the book is a few years old, I'm sure much of what it portrays is still relevant. As someone who has never had any experience with meth, and whose knowledge comes from what she sees on "Breaking Bad", I found this book to be very well written and very informative about this problem. I live in the Midwest and have read newspaper articles about meth busts, meth cooks and how people behave in the throes of the drug; however, I've never really read much about the depth of the problem.
The author did a good job of bringing his research together and presenting it in a very informative, readable way. I do have to say that there were sections that literally gave me chills when I pictured what it would be like to live in a town such as Oelwein and to come face to face with addicts in the course of my daily life.
Thanks to the author for his well-written and informative book--it must have taken a great deal of courage to put himself in to those situations in order to get to the real stories.
The fact that Mr. Reding faced quite a bit of blowback from Oelwein residents after his book was published is no surprise. I grew up in a small mill town where alcoholism was a way of life. Small communities always take great umbrage at being depicted in any negative light. This is based on an innate sense of insecurity. Some residents would rather stick their heads in the ground and pretend everything is hunky dory. This kind of attitude is childish and dangerous. Mr. Reding didn't set his eyes only on Oelwein but any rural communities who have been left behind because of globalization and harmful federal government inactions. He does an excellent job describing the history of methamphetamine, its effects of the body and what are the major contributors to its widespread use. The author gives very vivid, chilling descriptions of how the drug attacks the body, mind and community. The main contributors to this epidemic are convincingly depicted as the big agricultural companies, big pharmaceutical companies and Mexican drug cartels. Mr. Reding hits the nail on the head by stressing that this is not solely an issue of individuals lacking willpower or morals. The book is a very human, clear-eyed view of a drug that continually permeates our rural nation and how politicians and most citizens refuse to acknowledge its far-reaching, horrible presence. An absolutely outstanding, highly readable and important book.
This is journalism at its best.
"Methland" is about the methamphetamine attack on rural America. Focusing on Oelwein Iowa, it's about the ordinary people who use meth, and the ordinary people who make it & deal it. And the reasons why they do.
Globalisation has meant that the old industries (the farming, the rail work & meat packing) are largely gone, or have been changed beyond recognition. Local unemployment is high. What work there is, being done by low paid immigrant labour. Then a drug turns up (in large quantities) that delivers instant pleasure and relief from depression; it's also the only well paying job around. Who can blame anyone for getting in to it? But then the consequences become apparent. ...the addictiveness, the violence, the hideous self-destruction, the neglected children. And behind the scenes, pulling the strings, is big business (agribusiness, the pharmaceutical industry and the Mexican drug cartels) intent on maximizing their profits, with no or little concern for the lives they're destroying.
But "Methland" is much more than this; it's also about the people who fought back to reclaim their lives and their towns. It shows it can be done. Nick Reding has written an important book.
On the subject of meth in rural America, also see the documentary "Montana meth" (HBO). On meth in the gay scene, see Todd Ahlberg's superb documentary " Meth" (Babalu Pictures)
This book will depress you, but you get the information you need to understand. The underbelly of our Capitalist system has the habit of creating nice industrial towns that last for decades, and then along comes globalization and technology and these places get discarded into the pile of the forgotten and neglected. A cheap chemical, as the Soma pill from the Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, comes in and becomes the the way of life. Big Pharma and Big Agriculture and the devils in this book. Oh, by the way, this is a non-fiction work.
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