A Hometown Remembered
Nevada, Iowa
by
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About the Book
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.
About the Author
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Richard Boyce was born and raised in Nevada, Iowa, a generation after Bob Crouch, whom he has known and admired all his life. At leisure following 34 years of federal service, the last 20 as a judge with the National Labor Relations Board, he lives in San Francisco. Although he is a half-century and many miles removed from Nevada, neither time nor distance has diminished his appreciation of the old hometown. (Bob Crouch, Iowa-born in 1908, is retired after a distinguished realty career in Phoenix and Scottsdale, Arizona. With Kay, his wife of over 70 years, he resides in the Phoenix home they first occupied decades ago.) |