Read More: Methland

I picked up Methland by Nick Reding on a whim, when I was sent to the library by Megan on a bitterly cold day to drop off videos so I wouldn't get a late fee. She had checked out the videos on my card, you see. It's funny how that works. Anyhow, I had remembered reading reviews of this book when it came out a few years ago, and I'd thought it sounded interesting then. So I figured, why not? I stuck it in my bag with the myriad other random books I had somehow accumulated somewhere between walking in the front door and taking my place in line at the front desk, five feet away.

Have you ever driven through the Midwest or the South, passing through tiny little town after tiny little town, and wondering what people do there? Often, especially in the south, the houses are gorgeous and the setting is beautiful. But no industry, no universities... what do people do for a living? How can these places support all the inhabitants? If I were to pick up and move to a place like that one day, what would I do? Do these people all telecommute? Are they writers or editors that can work from anywhere? Artists? Ebay millionaires? I've always wondered these things.

According to Nick Reding, the answer is that there really are no jobs in these places. Not anymore. Farming has more or less died as an occupation, since it has been taken over by a few huge conglomerates. Factory after factory has shut down, and the few that remain open usually pay minimum wage and offer no benefits for backbreaking work... so those jobs are mostly done by illegal immigrants. That means after the few jobs that every town has (mayor, police chief, teachers, etc.) there really isn't much left to do, save for some minimum wage jobs at places like motels and Walmart. And apparently it is this situation, the misery of too many people and not enough real jobs, that set the scene for the meth epidemic that exploded in small town America starting in the 90s.

It felt like this book was longer than it needed to be, and there was a lot of repetition. I definitely learned some things though! Like how pharma lobbyists gutted the legislation aimed at curbing meth production, year after year. Although, to be honest, I'm not sure that trying to legislate drugs away has ever worked--I mean, cocaine is pretty darn illegal and it doesn't seem like it's going away any time soon. I also learned that wages at many midwestern feedlots/slaughterhouses fell by 3/4 overnight, at the same time as benefits disappeared, when they were bought out by big companies like Cargill, and over time most of the jobs disappeared anyway. That must have been devastating! The stories of the people affected were pretty interesting too. For example, here's a fun fact: did you know that Tom Arnold's sister was a drug queenpin that helped meth originally get a foothold in the midwest? All in all, I'd say this was an interesting read, but I'm not sure I would recommend that everyone go out and read it.

-Kristin