Small Places: In Search of a Vanishing America

In search of the traditional small-town mentality that he believes is rapidly disappearing, Rawls, editor of Har row smith magazine, here travels to 15 towns across the U.S. Some of the people he talks to, such as Amish farmers in Ohio, seem to have held on to the old ways of thinking. Others, however, like a former Manhattan advertising man now making wine in upper New York State, or two Washington Post reporters who run a market garden in Pennsylvania, exemplify ``weeds''--Rawls's term for invaders from the city who remake country places to suit their own needs. One gets the impression from these essays that the America Rawls sets out to describe has already vanished. (Aug.)