Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town

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Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town

by Nick Reding (Goodreads Author)

3.62 of 5 stars 3.62 · rating details · 3,134 ratings · 674 reviews

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...more

Hardcover, 272 pages

Published June 9th 2009 by Bloomsbury USA

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Mar 25, 2010 Emily rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010, on-shelf-at-library-so-why-not

I was expecting this to be an overview of the meth epidemic in America's small towns. Instead, the author is specifically trying not to tell that story, but to go beyond and around it to expose the conditions in small-town America that make its denizens susceptible to the twin evils of meth and despair. Using the example of the town of Oelwein, IA, the author explores issues like education, employment, immigration, law enforcement, the DEA, the dearth of treatment programs, etc.

For such a short...more

9 likes · like · see review

Sep 12, 2010 David rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: audiobook, non-fiction, sociology, crime, american-history

Nick Reding has a nice literary style, which I appreciate in a non-fiction book as it makes for less dry reading. That's one of the redeeming qualities of this book, which was interesting but frankly didn't really bring that much insight to the table. Okay, meth is bad, we all know that. And drug addiction is horrible, drug cartels are evil and dangerous, and poverty tends to breed despair and thus drug use. These are all well-known facts and true of every addictive drug and every drug "epidemic...more Nick Reding has a nice literary style, which I appreciate in a non-fiction book as it makes for less dry reading. That's one of the redeeming qualities of this book, which was interesting but frankly didn't really bring that much insight to the table. Okay, meth is bad, we all know that. And drug addiction is horrible, drug cartels are evil and dangerous, and poverty tends to breed despair and thus drug use. These are all well-known facts and true of every addictive drug and every drug "epidemic." But color me skeptical when I'm told that this generation's drug is yet another incarnation of the WORST DRUG EVER IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND!

Reding goes into the history of meth and traces the rise of meth as a small town drug that is symbolic of the woes of Middle America by tying it to one town in particular: Oelwein, Iowa. He takes a sample of individual real-life characters -- the optimistic but beleaguered mayor, the pragmatic and cynical prosecutor, the alcoholic doctor, and of course, various dealers and addicts -- to personalize the effects of meth on this town. The stories are interesting but nothing we haven't heard before. Likewise, the rise of the Mexican Mafia is just a reprise of the Colombian cocaine cartels in the 80s. Once again, ham-handed legislation tainted by lobbyist influence managed only to strengthen the hold that organized crime has on the trade.

The connection to globalization and poverty is there, but I think it's a weaker part of Reding's narrative, particularly when he veers into agribusiness consolidation. This represents a whole host of problems afflicting the American heartland, and meth is just one piece of it, more a side effect than a root cause.

I found the book interesting and Reding's storytelling quite adequate, but it seemed like there was quite a bit of filler to pad it out to a full-length book. The Oelwein sections themselves were only part of the book.

This isn't a bad book or even a particularly flawed one, and certainly it increases understanding of the specifics of the drug methamphetamine. But I didn't find it to be ground-breaking, nor wholly convincing in its thesis that meth is the worst!drug!ever! and that the loss of American farming and blue collar jobs is responsible for the problem.(less)

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Sep 24, 2009 Donna rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction, social-issues

This book is about Oelwein, IA - my hometown. It's also about the meth epidemic in small towns throughout the U.S. Meth is most prevalent in rural areas, where poor people cook up small batches in their kitchens. Reding focuses much of the book on the period between 2005-2007 when meth coverage was at it's height in the media. Reding also relates the history of methamphetamine use -- it was given to soldiers during WWII to keep them going for days without sleep or food and prescribed to housewiv...more

22 likes · like · see review

Feb 26, 2010 Schuyler rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: library-books

This is more of a 3 1/2 star rating (I put my support behind Meghan and her undying, relentless campaign for a more accurate 1/2 star, or even 1/4 rating system. Listen up Goodreads! Or you're nerdy community will revolt!).

Apparently, after reading some reviews by some native Iowans (is that what they call themselves?) there are a few factual inaccuracies throughout the book, such as Iowa City is not the largest city in Iowa, or that The University of Northern Iowa is in Cedar Falls, not Cedar R...more This is more of a 3 1/2 star rating (I put my support behind Meghan and her undying, relentless campaign for a more accurate 1/2 star, or even 1/4 rating system. Listen up Goodreads! Or you're nerdy community will revolt!).

Apparently, after reading some reviews by some native Iowans (is that what they call themselves?) there are a few factual inaccuracies throughout the book, such as Iowa City is not the largest city in Iowa, or that The University of Northern Iowa is in Cedar Falls, not Cedar Rapids. For the most part, I don't care. These facts aren't really relevant to the whole story BUT they do chip away at Reding's credibilty as a reporter...but I'm sure these kind of mistakes will be fixed come the paperback edition.

As with any reportage of this type, one which the book industry seems to be saturated by, you can't go taking everything the author says as The Truth. You have to view it as a version of The Truth that helps (hopefully) create a better understanding of the subject in question and (hopefully) creates a 'national dialogue'. So this is Nick Reding's version of rural America, of the Meth problem in those areas, and of Oelwein, IA.

This is a very human centered story. Reding devotes just as much time to understanding meth and the DTO's (Drug Trafficking Organization) as he does to the people whose lives are effected by them. So if you're going in expecting a meth-soaked narrrative, you might be a little bit disappointed. That is not to say that meth is not present on every page, because it is, but in a more atmospheric way. I guess I was looking forward to understanding more about meth as drug and I came away with a vague understanding but nothing incredibly concrete. And that has more to do with my expectations than it does with Reding's execution as a writer, because I'm sure he intended to devote a lot of narrative space to these people he befriended and whose lives he saw crippled by meth.

But I don't want to sell Reding short. He does a damn good job explaining the history of meth and it's ever changing distribution and manufacturing. Sometimes I felt he bit off a little more than he could chew, narratively, as he tried connecting all the pieces that come into play when talking about a major drug like meth. He starts off talking about rural America, then economic turmoil, then meth, then big agriculture, then Monsanto and Cargill (of which his father was a vice chairmen, which was a neat twist), then the meat industry, then DTO's, then legislation, then pharmaceutical lobbyists, then insurance companies, etc, etc. I'm not saying this isn't all important because it most certainly is if a reader wanted the whole picture. But I felt Reding didn't devote enough space to all the pieces of the puzzle. The book needed to be twice as long as it was to form a proper, coherent narrative. So that's kinda positive criticism: I wanted more. After all this unnecessary nitpicking, I recommend this book. Ah, what the hell, I'll give it four stars.

Also, it reinforced the idea that, yet again, Big Pharma is evil, evil, evil.(less)

12 likes · like · see review

Mar 07, 2013 Lulu rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: journalism, growing-up, drugs, middle-america

The content of this book, enormously important to understanding the misfortunes of middle America and the root causes of a horrifying drug epidemic, merit five stars. Reding's journalistic instincts and nuanced coverage of the issues surrounding meth abuse make for a shocking and richly informative book. He's clearly a talented writer, but runs into some difficulties executing a book-length work. I would compare it to a movie with too many montages or monologues. There are times when Reding indu...more

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Apr 15, 2011 lauren rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book was obviously written by a dude. And this dude is secretly really into an idealistic fantasy of small towns, but he knows the whole meth epidemic thing goes against that, so he tells the reader he doesn't believe in it. But i've enjoyed the book. Amongst all the bro-ing it up with the locals, he tells a really interesting story of the social, economic, psychological, etc, aspects of meth in small town america. It sort of makes me never want to go to a small town. Everyone knows everyon...more

2 likes · like · see review

Jan 27, 2013 Erica Reichert rated it 3 of 5 stars

Methland is a very interesting read. I especially appreciated that the author connects the consolidation of union-busting food and agricultural big business and the business lobbying of big pharma with the deterioration of small towns in the U.S. Midwest and the proliferation of meth manufacture and sales. This is a must-read for anyone interested in rural American communities, labor and the economy, drug epidemics, and social policy. The text should have gone through at least one more edit cyc...more

1 like · like · see review

Nov 10, 2011 Elisabeth rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: meth, drug, abuse, rural, nonfiction, iowa

I keep reading books about meth, and I keep finding myself engrossed in the stories. Methland starts where Beautiful Boy and Tweak leave off. Those books are excruciating personal family stories, one written by the father (David Sheff), one by the son (Nic Sheff), about the son's addiction and the repercussions on the lives of the family members as well as the addict. Set in California, they chronicle Nic's descent from healthy, successful college-bound high school student to the life of an addi...more

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Jun 09, 2013 Wayne Fitzpatrick rated it 4 of 5 stars

Methland explores the epidemic of meth, particularly in the small towns that dot the American heartland. The author, Nick Reding, does artful job of introducing the people who he profiles in the book. From detailing each character’s strengths, weaknesses and various characteristics, you feel as though you’ve know these characters your entire life. Reding does not shy away from exposing the ugly truths about each person. This only makes his account all that more believable and intriguing.

Reding...more

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Mar 26, 2013 Eva rated it 4 of 5 stars

A pretty interesting topic--the history and sociology of meth, esp. in small town America--written by a good writer. Kindle highlights:

What bothered him most were the crimes, and these were numerous, in which children had been involved. Many of those included child rape. Others involved neglect to an order of magnitude—three-year-olds left alone for a week to take care of their younger sibling; children drinking their own urine to avoid dehydration—that had once been unheard of in Oelwein. - loc...more

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Feb 18, 2013 Taras rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book was surprisingly engaging. I expected it to be a barely-interesting 3-star book.

The quality of author's dive into politics of meth was unexpected. It was very sad to learn that big pharma actively fights against regulation for raw meth materials.

Authors explanation of the effect of industry consolidation on farmers was particularly eye-opening. As he explained, Monsanto sells the seeds(which can't be replanted) and Cargill is the only buyer for resulting corn leaving the farmer stuck i...more

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Dec 12, 2012 Dylan burns marked it as to-read

The book Methland by nick reding is told from the viewpoint of the author, Nick Reding. Its about him going back to his hometown Oelwein Iowa. With the population 6,126 it is just another average rural town like springfield, but besides the fact that the distribution, cooking, and using of meth has taken over the town. When reding arrives in Oelwein, Iowa he thinks its just his regular old town that he grew up in but it has changed so much for the time he has been gone. The town of oelwein has b...more

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Oct 04, 2012 Mary rated it 5 of 5 stars

I've been practicing criminal law for the past 18 years .. 8 years as an assistant district attorney and 10 years as a criminal defense attorney. So, I've had lots of hands on experience with meth cases. I've heard the law enforcement side and had many one on one conversations with users, dealers and cooks, but I still learned a lot of new information in this book. This was a very interesting read regarding the big picture of how meth came into being, how it transformed from a legal drug to an i...more

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Jul 10, 2012 Tulin rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was fascinating - Nick Reding posits an interesting theory that the proliferation of meth in small towns across the US has to do with agribusiness (loss of income and jobs, companies purposely bringing in immigrants in order to pay them less and bypass labor laws) and the effects of big business lobbying against laws that would prevent the growth of the illegal drug industry. This is one of the most thoroughly researched nonfiction books I have read in a long time, and I was impressed...more This book was fascinating - Nick Reding posits an interesting theory that the proliferation of meth in small towns across the US has to do with agribusiness (loss of income and jobs, companies purposely bringing in immigrants in order to pay them less and bypass labor laws) and the effects of big business lobbying against laws that would prevent the growth of the illegal drug industry. This is one of the most thoroughly researched nonfiction books I have read in a long time, and I was impressed by how he weaved facts, theories and personal stories to write a compelling book.

What I find interesting about the criticisms I've read about this book is that the criticisms centers around 3 factual errors the author makes about Iowa (e.g., the biggest city in Iowa, the direction to Des Moines, and one other fact). Really? Three facts like that? Yes, those should have been corrected before the book went to print, but if those were the only errors, rather than any errors in the facts of the storyline and the issue being discussed in the book, those sound like petty and defensive statements. I think a key message people who are criticizing the book seem to have missed is that while the book centers around a specific town in Iowa (although, really, a couple, since Lori actually lives in another town, and she is a major reason for the growth of the meth problem in Iowa), it is not meant as a criticism of that town but as an example of what is happening in towns all across the country - especially when he talks about the loss of jobs and residents.

If I had one thing I think the author could have done a little better was the piece about his father - while I do think his father's career at Monsanto could have been relevant to the story, the way it was written, clearly as someone who admires his father, he missed an opportunity to talk about what role his father played in helping Monsanto become the agri giant it is, which he obviously did since he retired as vice chairman. This could have been a really interesting analysis to add to his theory about how the changes in agribusiness have aided the growth of the meth problem.

I would be interested in knowing how Oelwein is doing today - did all the positive economic changes the mayor brought forth by 2007 survive the recession? I hope it did, as his energy and several characters belief in this town was powerful. (less)

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Jan 16, 2012 Kira rated it 1 of 5 stars

Against all odds, Methland managed to be at times downright boring (aforementioned passage notwithstanding). I understand what Reding was trying to do: focus on the underpinnings of meth, as opposed to its direct and immediate effects. After all, we’re so desensitized to addiction, so capable of dismissing as weak-minded addicts who refuse to help themselves, that perhaps there is merit in looking at a drug from an economic standpoint, as something that takes a toll on everyone, if only indirect...more

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Jan 08, 2012 Diann Blakely added it

While METHLAND is centered on a single town in the Midwest that had seen the usual exodus of ambitious young people for better jobs and been left with nothing but menial positions in various factories or fast-food restaurants, it’s easily comparable to–-and even mentions–-small Southern towns left bankrupt and jobless after the departure of textile mills and poultry processing plants. In many ways, crystal meth, as shown in Donna Tartt’s THE LITTLE FRIEND (Knopf), is a perfect fit for Down Here,...more While METHLAND is centered on a single town in the Midwest that had seen the usual exodus of ambitious young people for better jobs and been left with nothing but menial positions in various factories or fast-food restaurants, it’s easily comparable to–-and even mentions–-small Southern towns left bankrupt and jobless after the departure of textile mills and poultry processing plants. In many ways, crystal meth, as shown in Donna Tartt’s THE LITTLE FRIEND (Knopf), is a perfect fit for Down Here, generally assumed to be our country’s most patriotic region. Allowing people to work night shifts without too much discomfort until the drug wears off and the inevitable craving for more kicks in, the effect on the users, their families, their children, and the community at large is all quite simply disastrous. Though written from every conceivable point of view, and those points of view fleshed out in highly memorable characters, I closed the book and remembered a few statements from local acquaintances–-as a newcomer to Georgia, thoroughly Yankeefied after two decades in NYC and 01238, also naturally solitary--who had been the victims of theft, deceit, and/or outright fraud (checks being ripped from their monthly credit card statements and used by their own friends or those of their children). I was tempted to screech, “It’s everywhere, it’s everywhere!” I hope I’m not wimping out by closing with a brief excerpt from the NEW YORK TIMES, one which comes closest to distilling, so to speak, METHLAND’s essence:

“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.'

Now I know why I have to obtain a prescription to buy what used to be an easily obtainable over-the-counter drugs containing psuedophedrine for the sinusitis that seems to afflict everyone in south Georgia. One couple is cited as using their microwave to cook down the stuff as part of the meth-making process; that same microwave being the same place where they cooked their children’s meals resulted in two kids with the highest hair follicle count of meth ever discovered in their state. Yet American paranoia about drugs continues unabated, as proved by barring the California voters’ decision that would have allowed for the personal use of marijuana; by doctors who toe the AMA party line, refusing opiate-derived analgesics even to terminal cancer patients because “addiction” might be the result; and by good and compassionate physicians who must now prescribe pain medication in fear of the DEA’s pernicious scrutiny, which has led to license suspension in too many cases. The best and most recent book to have been published on this subject, Melanie Thernstrom’s THE PAIN CHRONICLES (FSG), is written not by a Southerner but a born-and-bred Cantabrigian with two well-known academic parents. Yet Thernstrom writes primarily about one of the many things New Englanders and Southerners have in common: the soi-disant Gothic. (They have their witches; we have the Devil’s Music.)(less)

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Dec 12, 2011 Joe rated it 4 of 5 stars

Interesting telling of the recent history of meth in America, focusing on a few people and small towns as illustrative examples.

The book itself is compelling, both in its telling of how meth turned from a relatively small problem among people on the outskirts -- motorcycle gangs and such -- into a crisis that touched, and continues to touch, the lives of huge numbers of people, as well as the way it tells the human stories of users, police, and prosecutors who deal with meth on a personal basis....more Interesting telling of the recent history of meth in America, focusing on a few people and small towns as illustrative examples.

The book itself is compelling, both in its telling of how meth turned from a relatively small problem among people on the outskirts -- motorcycle gangs and such -- into a crisis that touched, and continues to touch, the lives of huge numbers of people, as well as the way it tells the human stories of users, police, and prosecutors who deal with meth on a personal basis.

There were two small changes that could improve this book: first, I wish it would have more of the facts and exploration of meth's rise (perhaps replacing some of the background color of what small-town America is like). For example, how is it that meth was around as a low-level problem for a long time, and then suddenly blew up? Reding indirectly gets into some explanation: our nation's crackdown on cocaine causing users, dealers, and distributors to look for alternative drugs; the reduced amount prescription of Benzedrine and other legal amphetamines causing people to look for street sources; the attack on low-level producers, opening up the market to organized manufacturers creating much purer and more potent meth. And yet, he doesn't really dig in to the details as much as I would have liked.

Secondly, Reding covers most of the factual details from a disinterested, balanced perspective -- except for his support of the misguided, ineffective anti-meth laws that have been passed in this country. The author admits that the laws didn't have any long-term effect on the availability of extremely pure meth (in fact, he describes how the laws resulted in helping the manufacturers coalesce into large organizations that were able to produce much stronger meth), but his support of those laws still seems apparent. He barely describes any of the arguments as to why those laws did more harm than good, and didn't go after the real source of the meth problem. It's not really a major problem, but most of the book seems to relay the facts without adding bias, so this one aspect sticks out.(less)

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Aug 24, 2011 Heidi rated it 4 of 5 stars

Fascinating book about the takeover of meth in a small town in Iowa. The personal stories were horrifying and depressing. It wasn't just about individual choices, though...there is so much more to the meth story. The pharmaceutical company who actually went so far as to synthesize an alternative to pseudoephedrine to be used in cold medicines, but then shortly after was bought out by Pfizer who chose not to follow through. The meat packing plants and other factories who once provided good paying...more

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May 01, 2011 Jen Hirt rated it 4 of 5 stars

Many people are familiar with the meth scourge, but there are two new things (at least to me) offered in this book that make me recommend it. First, Reding includes explanations of how lobbyists for the pharmaceutical industry weakened legislation, and how the cold medicine industry makes a phenomenal profit off of meth. Second, he also shows how the decline of local industry (and America's insatiable appetite, literally, for cheap meat) led to a rise in meth in the midwest. Those are just two s...more

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Apr 26, 2011 Kathleen Hagen added it · review of another edition

Methland: the Death and Life of an American Small Town, by Nick Reding, narrated by Mark Boyett, produced by Audible Inc., downloaded from audible.com.

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. Journalist Nick Reding, originally from Iowa with his family still there, becomes enmeshed in the story of Crystal Meth and its effect on the Midwestern small towns. He chooses on...more

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Dec 23, 2010 Kasey rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction

It seems odd to say I loved this book, given the subject matter, but in a strange way I DID love reading it, maybe in the way you can love anything so intelligent and large-hearted, no matter the topic. And it is definitely a grim topic, and Nick Reding's writing is unblinkingly honest. But he does manage to find some hope in the sad and hopeless-seeming stories he tells, especially in the story of the way the mayor of the little Iowa town that is the subject of Methland raised an enormous amoun...more

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Dec 07, 2010 Patrick rated it 5 of 5 stars

I finished this book months ago, and decided to finally write about Methland after I saw that one of my friends (thanks Sara) had put in on her visual bookshelf. It is a great work on the ins and outs of meth, what it does to people and their communities, and describes the human cost to the use of this very dangerous drug.

Reding conducted an enormous amount of research talking to users and law enforcement, doctors and lawyers in order to give a broad picture of what meth has done to a small town...more

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Dec 05, 2010 Janet Miller rated it 4 of 5 stars

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Loading... Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town by Nick Reding (Goodreads Author)
Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town 3.61 · rating details · 1,026 ratings · 340 reviews
The dramatic story of the methamphetamine epidemic as it sweeps the American heartland a timely, moving, very huma...more hi Janet
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Loading... Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town by Nick Reding (Goodreads Author)
Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town 3.61 · rating details · 1,026 ratings · 340 reviews
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
...more 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, longlasting, 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 twenty 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.
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Sep 22, 2010 Trishnyc rated it 4 of 5 stars

As more and more Americans move away from small towns to urban areas, many carry with them an idealized version of the places they left behind. They imagine idyllic scenes of families at work and play, engaging in simple pursuits, farming the land, attending places of worship and living low key lives. But many of these towns are becoming unrecognizable as communities are swept up in the consumption of a dangerous drug that leaves its users physically and mentally damaged, financially depressed a...more As more and more Americans move away from small towns to urban areas, many carry with them an idealized version of the places they left behind. They imagine idyllic scenes of families at work and play, engaging in simple pursuits, farming the land, attending places of worship and living low key lives. But many of these towns are becoming unrecognizable as communities are swept up in the consumption of a dangerous drug that leaves its users physically and mentally damaged, financially depressed and rips families apart. Methland is Nick Reding's attempt to understand Meth's spread as it weaves a path of destruction through small town America and what this means for society at large.

One of the reasons why Meth has been able to penetrate and destroy communities in a somewhat unique manner, is the fact that its component elements can be acquired very easily in common drug store purchases. Ephedrine and Pseudo ephedrine are both ingredients of over the counter cold medicines and can be acquired without a prescription. So in addition to the drug cartels that produce Meth, everyday people are able to produce Meth in their kitchens with just a few ingredients and a basic knowledge of chemistry. Meth production at home has led to many house fires and explosions, claiming the lives of innocent victims in addition to poisoning non using bystanders( e.g children).

Its is interesting to see Meth's current status as an illicit drug, as it was once a legally prescribed drug for weight loss, depression and all manner of ailments.Tests on mice show that the body starts to form antibodies that vaccinates itself against the drug thus making attainment of a high more and more difficult with each use. This means that addicts seek larger and larger quantities of the drug to get a high thus making them even more desperate and resorting to extreme means, violence included, to get that high.

The author draws some very interesting conclusions about the role of immigration, monopolies in the agricultural sector and even Washington lobby groups to Meth's inception and spread. This is a very interesting and well researched book. As I read, I was surprised by how insidious the Meth problem has become as I too had bought the myth of the idyllic small town, believing that drugs were more of a big city problem. It is a sad and complex portrait of what happens when certain factors, high unemployment, poverty and disconnection from certain basic needs occurs. I found the book to be readable if at times bogged down by too many facts and details.(less)

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Jul 22, 2010 ICPL Staff Picks added it

Shelves: john, staff-picks-blog, nonfiction

A friend from Oelwein, Iowa was distressed to learn that Nick Reding’s best-seller focused on his hometown. True enough, Methland paints a pretty grim picture of Oelwein earlier in this decade, but goes on to outline steps the town has taken to clean itself up.

Reding aims to provide both the macro and the micro approaches to meth. He interviews addicts, a prosecutor, a local doctor and a couple imprisoned dealers. He ties the destruction of small towns to the farm crisis, and ultimately to immig...more

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Apr 23, 2010 Alexa Poeter rated it 4 of 5 stars

Graphic and disturbing account of how Methamphetamine rose in middle America in the 80's & 90's.

Reding gets to the heart of the heartland's small town demise and addiction to Meth. He supplies ample evidence of how economic, food and drug policies along with manufacturing and immigration trends (not isolated from these same policies) helped make the meth lab as common as McDonalds are across middle America. We get to know the characters (the law enforcement officials, the addicts, the deale...more

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Dec 09, 2009 Ben rated it 3 of 5 stars

I'm tempted to describe how the initial rush of the first chapter couldn't be replicated but that I still couldn't put the book down, and when finished I wound up cooking it and smoking it. I know that's juvenile, but one of my favorite editors once said "go with the gag" when in doubt, so fuck it.

This book has very good long term reporting about the international networks that have made meth American as apple pie, using a town in Iowa's struggles with the drug as a focal point. At times I felt...more

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Dec 02, 2009 Tara rated it 4 of 5 stars

Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town

Nick Reding puts all of the pieces together in an excellent investigative book that exposes the complex and seemingly unstoppable forces behind the epidemic, while also revealing its human cost through individual stories that will make you hurt. If you grew up in a small town, you know these people.

The heartland's struggle with meth addiction is largely rooted in a cataclysmic shift from small farm and ranch operations to corporate-run cent...more Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town

Nick Reding puts all of the pieces together in an excellent investigative book that exposes the complex and seemingly unstoppable forces behind the epidemic, while also revealing its human cost through individual stories that will make you hurt. If you grew up in a small town, you know these people.

The heartland's struggle with meth addiction is largely rooted in a cataclysmic shift from small farm and ranch operations to corporate-run centers of mega-production. Animals are raised in centralized factory pens, fattened in giant feed lots, and slaughtered in megalithic processing plants. Grain production has been centralized on huge corporate farms where food is planted, harvested, and processed under the supervision of agribusiness giants like Cargill and Monsanto. This shift has devastated the morale and pocketbook of rural America. Former independent entrepreneurs have been reduced to the status of easily replaceable wage slaves. Local packing plants that used to pay their employees twenty dollars an hour plus health benefits have been absorbed by mega corporations that pay six dollars an hour and no benefits to a workforce that is powerless to demand anything better. Anyone who toured the Midwest farming country during its heyday, which peaked in the mid-1970's, would be shocked to witness the grinding poverty that permeates its small towns today.

The issue of poverty drives the meth market in multiple ways. The ingestion of meth can temporarily alleviate the depression and hopelessness of a single mother who just completed a double shift slitting chicken bellies at the local Tyson plant. The production of meth in rural basements, a relatively simple but risky endeavor, is a cottage industry that offers low startup costs and large returns to those meth cooks who manage to avoid arrest or incineration. Poverty and lack of decent employment tend to drive rural youths to the West coast and California, where their habit eventually hooks them up with big-time distributors who in turn employ them to funnel meth back to their home town in return for a cut of the cash and goods.

To make matters worse, large processing plants and pig farm factories actively solicit Mexican citizens to cross the border and work for subsistence wages ("First 6 months of housing provided free!"). Although the vast majority of these workers are husbands and fathers desperate to provide a higher standard of living for their families, a fraction of this workforce is inevitably involved in siphoning drugs from Mexico into Small Town, USA.

Corporate culpability doesn't end with agribusiness. Big Pharma has used its massive economic power and lobbying skills to fight meth regulation at every turn. Why waste a relatively modest sum of money adding an element to cold pills that will render them useless for meth making when only half of that sum can "convince" Congress to avoid requiring the additive at all? After all, they argue, they make a legal product for a legal purpose. Why should they have to spend one penny because some societal misfit may personally choose to commit a criminal act? Why indeed.

Ironically, one of the final reasons for meth's prevalence in the heartland is the work ethic of its people. Most drugs don't help work performance. Mention "severe drug addict" and most people envision a lethargic, unemployed couch surfer who lives off friends and relatives until they finally throw him/her out. In contrast, meth (at least initially) boosts concentration and energy, allowing the user to work two and three jobs, performing for weeks with minimal sleep until the inevitable crash. Small town rural people who pride themselves on hard work and self-sufficiency often succumb to meth as a temporary way to "hold it all together" while they work through a financial crisis (divorce, sick child, loss of benefits) that requires them to work long hours without relief. Temporary use is seldom temporary for long.

I've laid out the general framework of Nick Reding's book, but the real power of his work comes from personal interviews and the hard-to-hear stories of working people who have been destroyed directly or indirectly by the meth trade. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand meth addiction and, more importantly, the largely unreported societal malaise that is sapping the life from rural America.

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Nov 13, 2009 Sharon rated it 4 of 5 stars

Economic collapse has played an important role in the growth of meth production and use in rural America.
This book is definately worth the read. I learned about the origins of meth; what makes it so popular; and that it may be impossible to stop the production and use of meth. Pharmaceutical lobbyists, Mexican drug cartels, and large companies like Cargill are indirect business associates; the driving force among them being their profit margins. Money is the devil in disguise.

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Oct 11, 2009 Benjamin Whitmer rated it 4 of 5 stars

Original review at INDenverTimes.

I need to start this review with this admission: I believe nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, told to me about drugs by any governmental agency. When it comes to drugs, I apply the same rule to public health officials that I apply to personal injury lawyers and car salesmen: If I see your lips moving, I know you’re lying. See, as a member of the DARE generation, I’ve lived through more drug scares than I can count, and seen nearly every one of them debunked....more Original review at INDenverTimes.

I need to start this review with this admission: I believe nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, told to me about drugs by any governmental agency. When it comes to drugs, I apply the same rule to public health officials that I apply to personal injury lawyers and car salesmen: If I see your lips moving, I know you’re lying. See, as a member of the DARE generation, I’ve lived through more drug scares than I can count, and seen nearly every one of them debunked.

I’ve also been around long enough to know lots and lots of people who have used illegal drugs. (Most people have used illegal drugs at least once, after all.) Some of them have managed to destroy their lives, but they are the rare exception. As unpopular as it is to point out, most people who use drugs use them recreationally. This is one of the inherent problems of every drug scare. For every meth-mouth poster child, there are dozens of recreational users — Ted Haggard’s crowd, for instance — and most of us know it. As such, when I come across yet another claim that, no, really, this is the most dangerous drug ever, and if you do it even once you’ll end up slicing off your own skin with a razor blade or losing your virginity in a bathroom stall, I greet it with a wide yawn, if not a chuckle.

Nick Reding’s Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town does a pretty good job of avoiding this trap. Granted, there are a couple of the sorts of horror stories that make the tabloids hum. We get the occasional tale of an addict melting their testicles while trying to pilfer anhydrous ammonia or clawing their skin off with their fingernails — tales that are mostly unsourced and related second-hand, it’s worth noting — but they are distractions. The most compelling portions of Methland have nothing to do with methamphetamines at all, except to point out that poor people like to get high. (Just like rich people — though usually on cheaper and more dangerous product.) At its best, Methland is an insightful study of the decimation of America’s rural interior — Oelwein, Iowa, specifically — by corporate farming, globalization and the contempt for its inhabitants evinced by legislators and pundits residing on the coasts. Reding describes a divided nation, where those living in rural America are so separated by cultural and economic concerns from those in the coastal metropolises that they might as well be living in different countries.

One of Methland’s greatest strengths resides in Reding’s eye for the well-drawn character sketch. We are introduced to a recovering addict struggling to raise a toddler son who may at any moment be incapacitated by the unforeseen consequences of his father’s drug use; an emotionally stunted assistant prosecutor torn between his contempt for the addicts he sees around him and his sympathy for the 6,000 residents of his hometown — who just happen to be those addicts; and a Chomsky-spouting small-town doctor battling his own addiction to alcohol. It’s Reding’s sympathy for these and other residents of Oelwein that provide the center of the book.

Not all residents of Oelwein have been as sympathetic to Reding since the publication of the book, however. Methland has received some criticism for factual inaccuracy, and much of it seems to originate from the book’s subjects. Among other things, Reding is accused of misidentifying the largest city in Iowa and of relocating the University of Northern Iowa from Cedar Falls to Cedar Rapids. But these are fairly minor errata that Reding’s critics have latched onto because they don’t like the presentation of their neck of the woods.

Their resentment isn’t helped by the frenzy the book has caused among talk-show hosts and anti-drug professionals, who concentrate almost exclusively on the most sensational aspects of the book. Or, as is to be expected, by those politicians and pundits in coastal metropolises who met the economic annihilation of the country’s interior with contempt and who now use Methland as new inspiration for their derision.

Herein lies the greatest failure of the book, if it can actually be considered the book’s failure: There is apparently no way to write about drug use in America that doesn’t immediately mutate into a narrative of decent folk on one side of the issue and worthless addicts from whom decent folk must be protected on the other. If the reaction to Methland is any indication, the last 40 years of war-on-drugs hyperbole has made any attempt at public discourse absolutely impervious to nuance or complexity. Which is a shame, because it’s a subject that demands both.(less)

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About Nick Reding

Nick Reding was born in Saint Louis, Missouri, and received his B.A. in Creative Writing and English Literature from Northwestern University in 1994. He has an MFA in Creative Writing from N.Y.U., where he was a University Fellow from 1995 til 1997. He lived in New York City for thirteen years, where he worked as a magazine editor, a graduate school professor, and a freelance writer. His first boo...more

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“To look at them, leaning against the counter in the tiny kitchen, is to understand the connection between farming, itself an act of blind faith, and religion. If you can believe in a year’s worth or corn or beans, it seems, you can believe in anything.” — 1 person liked it

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