Storm Lake
A Chronicle of Change, Resilience, and Hope From a Heartland Newspaper
Penguin Publishing Group · Print & ebook · October 2, 2018
"A reminder that even the smallest newspapers can hold the most powerful among us accountable." --The New York Times Book Review “[The Storm Lake Times has an] unwavering commitment to elevating the community… Not the enemy of the people but a voice for the people.” --Beto O’Rourke, Democratic Presidential Candidate, via Instagram From a Pulitzer-winning newspaperman, an unsentimental ode to America's heartland--a story of reinvention and resilience, environmental and economic struggle, and surprising diversity and hope.
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- Who it’s for
- A candid portrait of a changing Iowa town, seen through the fortunes of its family-run newspaper.
- Genres
- Midwest History, Lives in Journalism, Environmental Policy
- Published
- Penguin Publishing Group, October 2, 2018
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"A reminder that even the smallest newspapers can hold the most powerful among us accountable." --The New York Times Book Review “[The Storm Lake Times has an] unwavering commitment to elevating the community… Not the enemy of the people but a voice for the people.” --Beto O’Rourke, Democratic Presidential Candidate, via Instagram From a Pulitzer-winning newspaperman, an unsentimental ode to America's heartland--a story of reinvention and resilience, environmental and economic struggle, and surprising diversity and hope.
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When The Storm Lake Times, a tiny Iowa twice-weekly, won a Pulitzer Prize for taking on big corporate agri-industry for poisoning the local rivers and lake, it was a coup on many counts: a strike for the well being of a rural community; and a triumph for that endangered species, a family-run rural news weekly. In this candid and timely book, Cullen describes how the heartland has changed dramatically over his career, as seen from the vantage point of a farming and meatpacking town of 15,000 in Northwest Iowa. Politics, agriculture, the environment, and immigration are all themes in Storm Lake, a chronicle of a resilient newspaper, as much a survivor as its town. Iowa plays an outsize role in national politics. Iowa introduced Barack Obama and voted bigly for Donald Trump. Is the state leaning blue, red, or purple in the lead-up to 2020? Is it a bellwether for America? A nostalgic mirage from The Music Man, or a harbinger of America's future? Cullen's answer is complicated and honest--but with optimism and the stubbornness that is still the state's, and his, dominant quality.
Local, Not Small
A candid portrait of a changing Iowa town, seen through the fortunes of its family-run newspaper.
Come here for
- A rural newspaper’s view of politics, agriculture, environmental struggle, and immigration
- The push and pull between local life and national politics
Expect
- An unsentimental look at heartland change, with room for resilience and hope
- Journalism rooted in community, not the usual national spotlight
Where it sits
| Midwest History | 46% |
|---|---|
| Environmental Policy | 39% |
| Lives in Journalism | 28% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- State & Provincial Government
- Environmental Policy
- Rural Life
- Authors
- Art Cullen
- Publisher
- Penguin Publishing Group
- Published
- October 2, 2018
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Reading lane
- State & Provincial Government