A HOMETOWN REMEMBERED

A Hometown Remembered is arranged around the reminiscences of BobCrouch, who grew up in Nevada, Iowa, in the teens and ’20s of the lastcentury--and whose superb memory and narrative skills reconstruct thatextraordinary time with arresting vibrancy. The book presents Bob’s memories notonly of Nevada (pop. 2,500), but more generally of small-town Midwestern life atthe threshold and in the throes of profound techno- and sociological change - inthe early days of the automobile and the telephone, at the onset ofelectrification, running water and flush toilets, central heating, home radios,etc. It also includes his recall of road-show entertainments such as the circusand chautauqua, high school athletics, the Great War, the influenza pandemic of1918-19, and the Great Depression. Completing the picture, Richard Boycehas deftly interwoven research-based commentary and illuminating extracts fromold Nevada newspapers and other print sources on such subjects as the LincolnHighway (which Nevada bestrode), evangelist Billy Sunday (a Nevada schoolboy),Prohibition, the Ku Klux Klan in central Iowa, and the income tax and women’ssuffrage amendments to the U.S. Constitution. A number of vintage photos andother visuals complement the written word.