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A review by karnaconverse
The Boys in the Bunkhouse: Servitude and Salvation in the Heartland by Dan Barry
4.0
Thoughtful look into a human tragedy that put Iowa, individuals with disabilities, and government regulations in the national spotlight.
This 2018 All Iowa Reads Selection is an easy read yet a difficult one to digest. At its premise is a group of men with intellectual disabilities brought to the state from Texas to work in a turkey processing plant, in jobs that few others wanted. For 30 years, they completed the same repetitive tasks and participated in the activities of the small community in which they lived. Then, one Sunday morning in 2009, they were gone and the doors to the dilapidated, old schoolhouse where they had lived were opened.
They were known as "the boys" to everyone in the small Iowa town who embraced them and to those in the Texas organization who hired them but few knew of the mistreatment they received and the injustices levied against them due to their disabilities. New York Times reporter and columnist Dan Barry picks up on reporting by the Des Moines Register, delves deep into the lives of these men, and explores society's role in taking care of its most vulnerable members.
I suspect readers will want to point fingers and place blame on someone or some organization as they progress through the book--and there are surely ample reasons to do so--but we should, instead, consider our individual voices and what we can do to ensure the proper care and treatment of everyone we come into contact with.
Read as a selection of my local library's book club.
This 2018 All Iowa Reads Selection is an easy read yet a difficult one to digest. At its premise is a group of men with intellectual disabilities brought to the state from Texas to work in a turkey processing plant, in jobs that few others wanted. For 30 years, they completed the same repetitive tasks and participated in the activities of the small community in which they lived. Then, one Sunday morning in 2009, they were gone and the doors to the dilapidated, old schoolhouse where they had lived were opened.
They were known as "the boys" to everyone in the small Iowa town who embraced them and to those in the Texas organization who hired them but few knew of the mistreatment they received and the injustices levied against them due to their disabilities. New York Times reporter and columnist Dan Barry picks up on reporting by the Des Moines Register, delves deep into the lives of these men, and explores society's role in taking care of its most vulnerable members.
I suspect readers will want to point fingers and place blame on someone or some organization as they progress through the book--and there are surely ample reasons to do so--but we should, instead, consider our individual voices and what we can do to ensure the proper care and treatment of everyone we come into contact with.
Read as a selection of my local library's book club.