Company Town Boy: A Memoir

Written in the mode of The Last Picture Show, this nonfiction book is an amusing portrayal of mid-twentieth century life in a place The Washington Post called the "archetypal company town" in 1972. Anecdotes that describe such adventures as live B-B gun shootouts, football-frenzied Friday nights, and stealing the accessories for a homemade pool table capture the Happy Days flavor of a bygone era. Other episodes recount such not-so-happy experiences as contending with aggressive rats on the graveyard shift at a dry ice plant, making do minus an outhouse after every Halloween, and surviving a bizarre year at a military college. Readers aren't likely to soon forget the colorful cast of characters ranging from the author's eccentric family members to high-spirited locals.