Methland tells the heroic story of the small town of Oelwein, Iowa–and, through it, the story of drug abuse in Rural America. Once a railroad, meat-packing, and farming hub, Oelwein has been battered by the Farm Crisis and decimated by job losses. More recently, thanks to the lobbying of pharmaceutical companies in Washington, D.C., record amounts of methamphetamine, aka crank or crystal meth, are available on Oelwein’s streets. Like thousands of other small towns across the United States, the drug’s production has become one of Oelwein’s principal business. Now, the town doctor, the mayor, and the prosecutor are fighting back.

Journalist and native Midwesterner Nick Reding spent four years living off and on in Oelwein. Along with the book’s three principal characters, Methland follows the traffickers, addicts, federal agents, and politicians whose lives make up a uniquely contemporary American tragedy, blending sociology, history, and thousands of hours of eyewitness reporting into a real-life account that reads like a novel.

Methland is ultimately a tale of enormous inspiration, as three men fight global forces in order to save their small hometown–a portrait not just of meth in America, but of life in America.

“Like all good journalism, [Methland is] the hand holding up the mirror, the friend telling us to take a cold, hard look at ourselves...”
-- The L.A. Times
 
“A fascinating read for those with the stomach for it, Reding's  unflinching look at a drug's rampage...stands out in an increasingly crowded field...”
-- Publisher's Weekly
 

Nick Reding was born in Saint Louis, Missouri, and received his B.A. in Creative Writing and English Literature from Northwestern University in 1994. He has an MFA in Creative Writing from N.Y.U., where he was a University Fellow from 1995 til 1997. He lived in New York City for thirteen years, where he worked as a magazine editor, a graduate school professor, and a freelance writer. His first book, The Last Cowboys at the End of the World, was published by Crown in 2002. Methland is his second book. He has written for Harper’s, Food and Wine, Outside, Fast Company, and Details. He lives with his wife and son in Saint Louis.