As you know, I spend a lot of time in my car (I live in the middle of a corn field)...AND I AM ALWAYS listening to a book on tape. Some are better than others. I'm a big fan of Jack Reacher (thank you, Lee Child)...
This book was so good, I found myself driving around aimlessly, just so I could listen to another CD...
The shocking thing is that it's a TRUE STORY...about something that happened right here in my own back yard. I well remember the scandal when the authorities removed dozens of elderly mentally disabled men from a run-down, fat infested abandoned schoolhouse....where, apparently, they had been living FOR DECADES....
Basically, working as indentured servants for the Louis Rich Turkey Processing company...
Gheesh...welcome to the Heartland....
With this Dickensian tale from America’s heartland, New York Timeswriter and columnist Dan Barry tells the harrowing yet uplifting story of the exploitation and abuse of a resilient group of men with intellectual disability, and the heroic efforts of those who helped them to find justice and reclaim their lives.
In the tiny Iowa farm town of Atalissa, dozens of men, all with intellectual disability and all from Texas, lived in an old schoolhouse. Before dawn each morning, they were bussed to a nearby processing plant, where they eviscerated turkeys in return for food, lodging, and $65 a month. They lived in near servitude for more than thirty years, enduring increasing neglect, exploitation, and physical and emotional abuse—until state social workers, local journalists, and one tenacious labor lawyer helped these men achieve freedom.
***********
This is THAT kind of unbelievable story.
The kind where my friend Marion and I look at one another and say..."Why would anybody write fiction?
The truth is so bizarre, it never lets you down...."
No comments:
Post a Comment