The Boys in the Bunkhouse, Dan Barry
The Boys in the Bunkhouse, Dan Barry
3 Rating(s)
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The Boys in the Bunkhouse
Servitude and Salvation in the Heartland

Author: Dan Barry

Narrator: Fred Sanders

Unabridged: 9 hr 44 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: HarperAudio

Published: 05/17/2016


Synopsis

With this Dickensian tale from America’s heartland, New York Times writer and columnist Dan Barry tells the harrowing yet uplifting story of the exploitation and abuse of a resilient group of men with intellectual disability, and the heroic efforts of those who helped them to find justice and reclaim their lives.In the tiny Iowa farm town of Atalissa, dozens of men, all with intellectual disability and all from Texas, lived in an old schoolhouse. Before dawn each morning, they were bussed to a nearby processing plant, where they eviscerated turkeys in return for food, lodging, and $65 a month. They lived in near servitude for more than thirty years, enduring increasing neglect, exploitation, and physical and emotional abuse—until state social workers, local journalists, and one tenacious labor lawyer helped these men achieve freedom.Drawing on exhaustive interviews, Dan Barry dives deeply into the lives of the men, recording their memories of suffering, loneliness and fleeting joy, as well as the undying hope they maintained despite their traumatic circumstances. Barry explores how a small Iowa town remained oblivious to the plight of these men, analyzes the many causes for such profound and chronic negligence, and lays out the impact of the men’s dramatic court case, which has spurred advocates—including President Obama—to push for just pay and improved working conditions for people living with disabilities.A luminous work of social justice, told with compassion and compelling detail, The Boys in the Bunkhouse is more than just inspired storytelling. It is a clarion call for a vigilance that ensures inclusion and dignity for all.

About Dan Barry

Dan Barry is a reporter and columnist for the New York Times. In 1994 he was part of an investigative team at the Providence Journal that won the Pulitzer Prize for a series of articles on Rhode Island’s justice system. He is the author of a memoir, a collection of his About New York columns, and Bottom of the 33rd, for which he won the 2012 PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing. He lives with his wife and two daughters in Maplewood, New Jersey.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Larry on January 06, 2017

This is both a sweet book and a horrifying book. It is about 32 men with intellectual disabilities who worked in a turkey processing plant in a small town in Iowa for decades in the 1970s 1980s and 1990s. They were underpaid and overworked and mistreated and loved by many in the small town where the......more

Goodreads review by Ann on June 21, 2016

Do you remember the shocking story of intellectually disabled men who were rescued from a slave-like environment in Atalissa, Iowa? I do, and I was anxious to learn more! The men were moved from Texas to live in an abandoned schoolhouse in rural Iowa. They worked from 1974 until they were rescued in......more

Goodreads review by Carlos on July 16, 2016

This book was an eye opener for me, I usually am not attracted by books about social issues... Sometimes they get too real for me , but I loved this book, it deals with the deplorable treatment of a group of people who suffered from mental problems , how their treatment was ignored by everyone aroun......more

Goodreads review by John on October 14, 2016

"With pen and paper, she recorded the breaches in the duct-taped ceilings; the mouse droppings on kitchen shelves; the moldy mattress propped up against the hallway wall; the cockroaches." She was a social worker called to investigate conditions at an old schoolhouse converted to house 32 intellectu......more

Goodreads review by Tara on June 07, 2024

A beautifully written account of a heartbreaking story. The author does a thorough job of researching the history and personalities behind all that transpired. There are certainly villains in this tale but there are also many folks with good intentions who lacked the education, the commitment, the i......more