by Nick Reding
First published 2009
Crystal methamphetamine has invaded Oelwein, Iowa, population 6,159. This small heartland town already faces economic collapse from agricultural consolidation and population exodus. Now an cheap, addictive drug threatens to destroy what remains. Journalist Nick Reding spent four years documenting this crisis through the lives of residents caught in the epidemic. Clay Hallburg serves as the town doctor, fighting meth addiction while battling his own alcoholism. Nathan Lein works as prosecutor, handling caseloads dominated by meth crimes. Jeff Rohrick struggles with his own twenty-year addiction, still trying to break free. Reding connects their personal battles to larger global forces that created conditions for this tragedy. The book reveals how economic devastation made small towns vulnerable to drug epidemics and traces the human cost of policy failures.
Genres: addiction, crime, social-issues, non-fiction, journalism, american-history
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: character-driven, social-commentary
Setting: Oelwein, Iowa
Period: 21st-century
272 pages · Hardcover · Bloomsbury USA
Content warnings: addiction, drug-use, substance-abuse