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 small parts of the book, which seems to cover all aspects of the meth trade in the rural midwest. The "Afterword" in the paperback version is stunning, as Reding tells about the public reaction to the book. For would-be journalists of this type (investigative, immersive, participatory, even literary journalists) his explanation of his sources is also interesting -- he played disc golf with a recovering addict, corresponded with jailed manufacturers, read what all the other journalists were uncovering, and hung out in a meth-addled town for years.