The Boys In The Bunkhouse: Servitude And Salvation In The Heartland by Dan Barry

The Boys In The Bunkhouse: Servitude And Salvation In The Heartland by Dan Barry

Nominated for the 2017 Hillman Prize and the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award

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.

Dan Barry published The New York Times' weekly column About New York from June 2003 to November 2006, and now writes This Land, a nationwide column for the paper. He was a nominee for the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing in 2006 for his coverage of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and life in New York City, and he shared the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting while working at the Providence Journal. He's also the author of Pull Me Up, a memoir. He was born in New York and raised on Long Island, and now resides in Maplewood, New Jersey, with his family.