heykellyjensen's review
It's weird how a book that's over 30 years old is even more astute today, predicting the realities of life in small-town America then and now. I picked this one up because Cairo, Illinois, fascinates me to no end, and this is THE book about the struggling town at the confluence of the country's biggest rivers. But it's a book about Cairo as much as it's about Kent, Connecticut -- a small town facing changes in its landscape that are in contrast to Cairo. Where Cairo can't fix itself and lives in its history of floods, of grand schemes for tourism, as well as its unforgivable racism then and now, Kent struggles to maintain any identity as it becomes a haven for second homes from city-dwellers look for "authentic" escape into rural America.
Powers is white, and so his perspective is as such, particularly in Kent. He does a great job delving into racism in Cairo, going so far as to talk with the preacher who had been the perpetrator of one of the worst murders of a Black person in the town's history. I'm guessing were this book written in 2021 and not 1991, we'd see more consciousness of this in Kent and in the (white, settler) American imagination writ large, especially as he discusses landmark/historic tourism industries like Williamsburg, Virginia.
Definitely a recommended read, even this many years on. It predicted some things that have played out, and its ability to talk about economic downturns then mirror what we've seen happen in more contemporary times.
Powers is white, and so his perspective is as such, particularly in Kent. He does a great job delving into racism in Cairo, going so far as to talk with the preacher who had been the perpetrator of one of the worst murders of a Black person in the town's history. I'm guessing were this book written in 2021 and not 1991, we'd see more consciousness of this in Kent and in the (white, settler) American imagination writ large, especially as he discusses landmark/historic tourism industries like Williamsburg, Virginia.
Definitely a recommended read, even this many years on. It predicted some things that have played out, and its ability to talk about economic downturns then mirror what we've seen happen in more contemporary times.
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