Denison, Iowa: Searching for the Soul of America Through the Secrets of a Midwest Town

Over the past 15 years, the all-white, largely German-Lutheran population of Denison, Iowa, has given way to a sizable Latino population, which has been drawn to the small town by the jobs most of the local white youths have turned down: working in the town's packing plants, where as many as 9,400 hogs are butchered each day. It is this demographic shift—with its attendant political battles, business woes and ordinary triumphs and defeats—that the Pulitzer Prize–winning duo of Maharidge and Williamson (And Their Children After Them , etc.) document in their latest photo-and-reportage book. The volume's cast of characters is diverse and illustrative: there's the young idealist trying to save the town's history; the forward-looking mayor pushing an ambitious plan for the town's future; and the Latino business owner toiling for his piece of the American dream. Sympathetically and eloquently, Maharidge conveys the stories of Denison's working poor and its white elite, its meth addicts and its merchants, all within a narrative that serves as a terrific reminder of how complex even the most ordinary of small towns really is. Photos not seen by PW. Agent, James Fitzgerald. (Sept. 12)