Iowa plays an outsize role in national politics. Iowa introduced Barack Obama and voted bigly for Donald Trump. But is it a bellwether for America, a harbinger of its future? Art Cullen's answer is complicated and honest.
In truth, Iowa is losing ground. The Trump trade wars are hammering farmers and manufacturers. Health insurance premiums and drug prices are soaring. That's what Iowans are dealing with, and the problems they face are the problems of the heartland.
In this candid and timely audiobook, Art Cullen-the Storm Lake Times newspaperman who won a Pulitzer Prize for taking on big corporate agri-industry and its poisoning of local rivers-describes how the heartland has changed dramatically over his career. In a story where politics, agriĀculture, the environment, and immigration all converge, Cullen offers an unsentimental ode to rural America and to the resilient people of a vibrant community of 15,000 in Northwest Iowa, as much survivors as their town.