Small Places: In Search of a Vanishing America

by Thomas H. Rawls

A celebration of small-town America presents a collection of essays that chronicle the past and present of individual communities across the country--from Stillwater, New Jersey, to Palmer, Alaska

Genres: Travel, Geography

245 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1990

Reviews

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rather heavy going as far as reading but fascinating with much of it. It definitely could make you do some serious thinking.

[Andrew Figueiredo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I came across "Small Places" in a Burlington, VT bookstore. A rather fitting place to find it, as the author lives in Vermont and writes about the sort of small towns that dot the state's landscape. I have a thing for travelogue/town profile style books like Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey Into the Heart of America or anything by Charlie LeDuff, and this book exists in a similar vein, so it's a shame this book is largely forgotten. Rawls goes across America, bringing to light the stories of diverse locales from California's Bay Area to Alaska's surprising farm country to the Driftless Region of Wisconsin to Vermont's Northeast Kingdom to New Jersey exurbs and everywhere in between. His writing is witty and enjoyable to read.

His particular interest is in how newcomer "weeds" (a rather pejorative but often accurate way of seeing outsiders) often try to change the character of the place they come to, but also adapt to it somewhat. Not every story is about this topic, but many read as laments for bygone days of small-town success and pride. Some explore strange stories, like the town in Wisconsin that was literally moved to avoid catastrophic flooding. Who would've thunk it? In general, Rawls brings to light what's lost even in towns finding economic revival through suburbanization or becoming tourist traps, "for the economic good ... is not synonymous with other goods -- social, spiritual, and environmental, to mention three." (135) Rawls often draws lessons from the places and people he profiles, such as the importance of being mindful about the impact of technology, as from the Amish. (58) Beyond the wonderful stories, these lessons are worth thinking about in our daily lives.