A Hometown Remembered: Nevada, Iowa

By Richard Boyce

A Hometown Remembered is arranged around the reminiscences of Bob Crouch, who grew up in Nevada, Iowa, in the teens and '20s of the last century--and whose superb memory and narrative skills reconstruct that extraordinary time with arresting vibrancy. The book presents Bob's memories not only of Nevada (pop. 2,500), but more generally of small-town Midwestern life at the threshold and in the throes of profound techno- and sociological change - in the early days of the automobile and the telephone, at the onset of electrification, running water and flush toilets, central heating, home radios, etc. It also includes his recall of road-show entertainments such as the circus and chautauqua, high school athletics, the Great War, the influenza pandemic of 1918-19, and the Great Depression. Completing the picture, Richard Boyce has deftly interwoven research-based commentary and illuminating extracts from old Nevada newspapers and other print sources on such subjects as the Lincoln Highway (which Nevada bestrode), evangelist Billy Sunday (a Nevada schoolboy), Prohibition, the Ku Klux Klan in central Iowa, and the income tax and women's suffrage amendments to the U.S. Constitution. A number of vintage photos and other visuals complement the written word.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1412041066
• ISBN13: 9781412041065
• Release Date: September 2006
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Length: 142 Pages
• Weight: 0.44 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.0" x 9.0"