Summary of Methland The Death and Life of an American Small Town

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Methland The Life and Death of an American SmallTown is an intriguing novel written by Nick Reding about the effects of methamphetamines on the small towns of America. In this book Reding submerges himself within the lives of the people most affected by this horrendous drug in Oelwein, Iowa during a four year period in the mid 2000’s.

            Reding noticed an issue with methamphetamines in small towns during his travels as a writer. Then when he returned to his home town of Greenville,Illinois he saw that the drug had infiltrated the place he called home, he then knew this was a subject that needed to be written about. Reding takes you into the lives of local Oelwein doctor, Clay Hallberg, a user named Roland Jarvis, and the county prosecutor Nathan Lein. He documents how meth has had negative effects on such a diverse group of people and how the demise of the farming industry played a part in the way methamphetamines have taken hold of this community and the lives of the people within it. The author gives you the history of methamphetamines and how it was used by governments and armies to help with moral during difficult missions. He also touches on the medicinal uses for weight loss and narcolepsy.  This article has many true points of how methamphetamines have destroyed the small towns of America. There are many reasons that meth has been able to take such a strong hold of these communities and Reding’s real life account lets you see how such a terrible thing has been able to happen to Middle America.

            This article would be a good article for Essay #3 because it shows how methamphetamines have taken hold of these small communities and have become the source of income, happiness, pain, and crime. Winter’s Bone also depicts the lives of those affected by methamphetamines in the small towns of the Ozarks. Methamphetamine is a drug that needs to taken out of circulation but it is almost impossible when it can be made in a kitchen sink and there is still such a strong want for it. The only thing that will stop this epidemic is education.

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Works Cited

Reding, Nick. Methland The Life and Death of an American Small Town. Bloomsbury, 2009 Print

Winter's Bone

Winter’s Bone

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            Winter’s Bone is an excellent book written by Daniel Woodrell. In this captivating novel, Woodrell is able to pull you into the backwoods lives of a culture that seems to be left back in time and keep you hanging on every word to see what is next.

            This book follows the life of a sixteen year old girl who has had less than a fortunate upbringing. Young Ree Dolly is tasked with trying to provide for and raise her two younger brothers. Her mother also lives with her, but is suffering from a debilitating mental illness that leaves her unable to care for her children or herself.

Ree’s father, Jessup Dolly, is a drug manufacturing convict who is on the run from the law and has left his family to fend for themselves. Jessup has put the family’s property up as collateral for his bail and now has not shown up for his scheduled court date. This selfish act has put the whole family at risk for losing there home with no way to pay for alternate housing.

Ree has taken on the mission of finding her father to save the family home. Woodrell has you following this child through the Ozark countryside in her search. Ree is forced to deal with drug dealers, thieves, and scoundrels to find her father. But to no avail. She is beaten lied to and taken advantage of by most of the people she comes in contact with.

Ree has taken on the roll of mother to her two younger brothers. She teaches them to cook with the little food that they do have. She teaches them to hunt squirrel to put food on the table. She also teaches the brothers to fight to protect themselves in this rough existence that they must endure.

Woodrell does an outstanding job bringing life to these characters. He has a poetic way of painting a picture of the Ozark Mountains that makes feels as if you could feel, touch, taste, and see them as if you were there. Click here for more info on the Ozarks. To this point I have thoroughly enjoyed this book and cannot wait to see what is going to happen to Ree and her family.