Letters To A Young Iowan: Good Sense From The Good Folks of Iowa For Young People Everywhere

by Zachary Michael Jack

What's the single most important piece of advice you would share with a young Iowan growing up or coming of age in the Hawkeye State? Iowa editor and author Zachary Michael Jack posed this timeless question to more than 100 Iowa luminaries, asking them to respond in a letter to all Iowans. The result ... a once-in-a-lifetime collection of common sense and hard-won wisdom penned for young people everywhere by a who s who of contemporary Iowans, including the likes of Robert D. Ray, Dan Gable, Mary Swander, and Christie Vilsack. Ranging from the mundane how to walk a gravel road to the comically profane what Iowa men have in common with Iowa pigs to the sublime how an ethic of care redeems us the letters and photographs in Letters To A Young Iowan tell the story of a state known far and wide for its down-to-earth nurture and its high-flying dreams. A perfect gift for rites of passage of all kinds, Letters To A Young Iowan is proof positive that one is never too old, or too young, to know wisdom beyond their years.

286 pages, Paperback

First published May 15, 2007

Reviews

[Talbot Hook · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an affecting collection of epistles written about Iowa, and, more broadly, the Midwestern United States. For those of us that love where we are, and have a strong sense of place and belonging, the letters within this book are a wonderful mosaic of perspectives highly reflective of our own thoughts. I don't think I found a letter that didn't have some amount of truth in it, and many of the letters were humbling, well-written, and insightful.

My two points of criticism are these: 1) There were two letters that were not quite on-topic, and were actually rather disdainful of many Iowans (although some people exist who are incredibly disdainful of Iowans); and 2) The design of the book is rather horrible. The font inside is a strange choice for publication - like a middle school student's virginal experimentation with Comic Sans MS - and the cover design and page animations are cluttered, uninspiring, and an affront to aesthetics.

Those are but two small qualms, however, which are vastly overshadowed by the humility, thoughtfulness, and pride of the myriad writings contained within.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book because I wanted to hear about Iowa directly from Iowans. My hope was that I would see Iowan culture "through their eyes," which would help me better understand why Iowan culture is the way it is. In that sense, this book delivered. The letters comment on everything stereotypically Iowan, whether good or bad.

I now have a better sense of why some people don't want to ever leave, and others can't wait to move away.

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dan and I spent some time most morning sharing the writings in this book with one another. Good discussion generator. Some excellent, some not so much. Some new facts learned about this state and more reasons to be proud.