Family reunion

This collection of essays is an attempt to interpret Iowa to Iowans. Eighteen Iowa authors draw on their own experiences of how the land, people, and events have interacted to make us who we are. In Family Reunion, observant, thoughtful, involved Iowans write from many perspectives - female, urban, Catholic, Latino, Norwegian American, and more. They write about rural translations; the need to tell stories; a three-generation farm; the British take on Hawkeye culture; why there's deli in Des Moines; and the passing of the old order. They consider growing up as outsiders and as insiders in small-town and urban Iowa; the role of the bystander and the black community; Iowa Muslims; and religion at the sesqui-centennial. There are analyses of the political landscape, the rural crisis of the 1980s, and an agenda for the future. These selective snapshots of Iowa at age one hundred and fifty combine to capture what it means to live in Iowa.