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rainbowbookworm's review
5.0
My wife borrowed this book from the library. I had no expectations. Honestly, I didn't even have a notion about what this book was going to be about. I found myself intrigued by and invested in the stories unfolding in each town the couple visited.
duparker's review
4.0
This is an interesting and relevant look at the worldview we have in the US. There is a wide variety of opinions and occurrences that really make this book feel important and highly readable. It should be read by and influence the next few years, but I suspect it won't be.
toesinthesand's review
3.0
This was interesting but I felt like it glossed over any troubles like poverty or drug use that every town has. I get it was supposed to be a positive outlook and I really enjoyed the way many people came together to change things on a local level, despite whatever political party they probably belonged to, but I also felt like the authors focused on towns that had some luck with support from corporations, or as they acknowledged at one point, were close to big universities - giving them access to resources many other towns wouldn't have.
k80uva's review
2.0
It has some interesting parts and is generally readable, but this book is frustratingly superficial in its examination of these towns and cities. There are simultaneously big discrepancies from city to city (some entries are more than 20 pages, while some, especially as the book goes on, are 5 pages), and there's a flat, repetitive quality to their impressions of most of the places they go. The authors tend to parrot the boosterish information they get from the local entrepeneurs/mayors/chamber of commerce (one person they talk to shows a lot more self-awareness than the authors when he says, "but of course I'd say that--I'm from the Chamber of Commerce!") and don't really look beyond that information to consider how redevelopment might have uneven impacts across a community, or how there might be multiple ways to strengthen an economically depressed place. I'm not saying this book needed to be a searing expose, but it's so celebratory of the idea of public-private partnerships and so unwilling to consider the idea that there might be debate within a community about how to move forward and because of that it misses an opportunity to have more substance. The book declares (in an attempt to reassure us?) that it's not focused on politics, and that politics doesn't come up very much in the authors' conversations, and that local politics in conservative places are often less conservative than national voting patterns--but this proudly apolitical stance on the part of the authors makes the book seem weak and myopic.
Lastly, this wasn't such a big deal but the book is suffused with strange digressions based on the authors' personal interests. They travel from place to place in their small plane, and there are several chapters about flying a plane that don't really connect to the larger project of the book. At one point they recount the story of a woman pilot from Columbus, Ohio, but there's no obvious reason why. The wife is a linguist and sometimes that leads to reasonable discussion of the regional variations in the way people speak, but sometimes it leads to truly wacky observations--in Allentown, PA, the authors seem to have been unable to distinguish between a waffle and a funnel cake and asked multiple people to explain it to them, and come away thinking that the notion that these are totally different foods is a Pennsylvania quirk.
Lastly, this wasn't such a big deal but the book is suffused with strange digressions based on the authors' personal interests. They travel from place to place in their small plane, and there are several chapters about flying a plane that don't really connect to the larger project of the book. At one point they recount the story of a woman pilot from Columbus, Ohio, but there's no obvious reason why. The wife is a linguist and sometimes that leads to reasonable discussion of the regional variations in the way people speak, but sometimes it leads to truly wacky observations--in Allentown, PA, the authors seem to have been unable to distinguish between a waffle and a funnel cake and asked multiple people to explain it to them, and come away thinking that the notion that these are totally different foods is a Pennsylvania quirk.
juliana_aldous's review
4.0
Flying around the country in a small plane with your best friend and partner and then writing a book about it? Couple goals!
It was nice to be reminded of the American can-do attitude and the work that is happening in parts of the country to renew themselves. I miss reading about the America of innovators and small businesses. I would like more, please.
It was nice to be reminded of the American can-do attitude and the work that is happening in parts of the country to renew themselves. I miss reading about the America of innovators and small businesses. I would like more, please.
tylercritchfield's review
3.0
A hopeful, optimistic view of real-life America that challenges typical narratives. I enjoyed the observations about the importance of libraries, public pools, river walks, local hometown pride, community colleges, etc. I do think these are important aspects to our communities that we take for granted or don't give enough attention to.
All that said, I think the premise of the book was often more exciting than the book itself. After 3 or 4 towns they all started sounding the same to me. Though I probably would have perked up if they had visited western Washington or Utah. I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend this to someone, but I'm glad I read it.
All that said, I think the premise of the book was often more exciting than the book itself. After 3 or 4 towns they all started sounding the same to me. Though I probably would have perked up if they had visited western Washington or Utah. I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend this to someone, but I'm glad I read it.
lkeownbeyer's review
3.0
I loved the idea of the book and the first few stories, especially Sioux Falls and Greenville, however the stories got redundant.
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