****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
Storm Lake is part autobiography, part pastoral ode to rural Iowa, and partly an unblinking look at the politics of the changing landscape of agriculture in the fertile Midwest. Written by Art Cullen, the editor of the Storm Lake Times, and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing, the book has wit, pathos, political judgments and a broad cast of fascinating characters, all wound into a flowing narrative that leaves the reader wanting more.The autobiographical writing is hugely interesting, and the passages about local Iowans are laced with insight and humor. The politics are deftly implied, except in the fearsome explanation of the political water-rights battle that Art and his paper exposed. The general theme of the book is stewardship of the land and water that make up Iowa, and the environmental and societal impact of rapidly changing farming ownership and methodology. Art comes down on the side of the small lakes and rivers that define the Storm Lake, of course. He also extolls the literal groundbreaking science of sustainable agriculture in a way anyone can read and understand. Less is more, sometimes.We get to meet the immigrants that have come to Storm Lake and made their homes there. We also meet Congressman Steve King, (R-Iowa) who would like to send them all back to places where they were starving, brutalized and disenfranchised. The argument for the immigrants coming to Storm Lake is powerful. They are really not that different than the whiter people that originally settled Storm Lake. They do the jobs softer white Americans won't do. They run for office! Sometimes they win!As the Pulitzer signals, the writing is graceful and sharp at the same time. Cullen has paid his dues as a newspaperman, but this book is the work of a skilled long-form writer. Still, the very best passages are lifted from the newspaper column Art publishes without fail every Tuesday in his family's newspaper. Iowans will recognize the political figures he aims at. Outsiders will love the intrigue even if they know nothing about the actual people.Storm Lake is a beautiful read. It borders on the poetic, without losing narrative. It tells an internationally important story by focusing on the local drama of everyday life.You should buy and read this book. You'll be glad you did.
