Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town - Tapa dura

"[Reding's] immersive reporting and artful writing bring one of the most intractable social issues of our time--the meth epidemic--into visceral, heartbreaking relief." --Jim Frederick, TIME

"Methland tells a story less about crime than about the death of an iconic way of life." --Details

"Methland is definitely worthwhile reading. In some circles it should be required reading. This isn't just a small town issue or an Iowa issue. This is an American issue." --Oelwein Daily Register

"What's most impressive about Methland is not only the wealth of information it provides but the depth of Reding's compassion for the individuals meth has touched: the heroes, the helpless witnesses, the innocent victims--and even the perpetrators--of this American crisis." --Francine Prose, O Magazine

"A powerful work of reportage. . . a clear-eyed look at a scourge that continues to afflict wide swaths of American society--whether we want to acknowledge it or not." --Cleveland Plain Dealer

"'Vicious cycle' is not an adequate term. As Reding painstakingly presents it, the production, distribution and consumption of methamphetamine is a self-catalyzing catastrophe of Chernobylish dimensions. The rich, with their far-off, insulated lives, get richer and more detached, while the poor get high, and finally, wasted." --Walter Kirn, New York Times Book Review

"Methland is a stunning look at a problem that has dire consequences for our country." --New York Post

"The strength of Methland lies in its character studies. As a 'social problem' meth is dull and intractable, as are all such problems; reduced, or rather elevated, to the individual level, it is piercing and poignant. Mr. Reding's heart is in the right place." --Wall Street Journal

"Reding's group portrait of Oelwein's residents is nuanced and complex in a way that journalists' depictions of the rural Midwest rarely are; he has a keen eye for details." --Washington Monthly

"Through scrupulous reporting and fierce moral engagement, Reding conveys the tragedy of the meth epidemic on both a mirco- and macroscopic level." --Village Voice

"Methland makes the case that small-town America is perhaps not the moral and hard-working place of the public imagination, but it also argues that big-city ignorance--fueled by the media--toward small town decay is both dangerous and appalling." --Washington Post

"This is a strong book, and it tells a complicated story in comprehensible, human dimensions. Like all good journalism, it's the hand holding up the mirror, the friend telling us to take a cold, hard look at ourselves." --Los Angeles Times

"This is a meticulously researched, quietly brilliant and unexpectedly moving account of a town's descent, and of its struggle to pull itself back from the edge." --The Millions, staff pick

"Methland paints a new American Gothic, not of artistic and architectural importance but of literary significance, capturing the gloom and decay of once bright and thriving small-town America. Reding is part barefoot epidemiologist, a bit of an armchair anthropologist, and insightful amateur psychologist, an indefatigable road warrior, but most of all, a gifted storyteller who forces readers to suspend reality, placing them among his vivid cast of characters." --PsycCritiques