Postville

Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America is a nonfiction book by Stephen Bloom. Bloom is a professor of journalism at the University of Iowa, and he writes the story of Postville, Iowa, where a Lubavitcher (Hasidic) community settled and operated the Agriprocessors kosher meatpacking plant.

I first heard about this book when a woman from our local university told me about it. She was trying to recruit book clubs to read the book, as Dr. Bloom was coming to speak at the university in October. I contacted the head of our book club, and it was our October read.

It was quite thrilling to hear the author speak about his work, and sad to hear how painful it has been since the publication of the book.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who is interested in a dichotomy of cultures.