"Most agree that West Liberty is a special place. The first majority Hispanic town in Iowa, it has been covered by media giants such as Reuters, Telemundo, NBC, and ESPN. But Chuy Renteria and his friends grew up in the space between these news stories, where a more complicated West Liberty awaits, full of small-town joy and horrific violence. We Heard it When We Were Young tells the story of a young boy, first generation Mexican-American, who is...

"Born in 1940 to three generations of eastern Iowa farmers, Robert Charles "Bobby" Bancks enjoyed a childhood unique to that era: playing among the crops and animals in warm weather, sledding down snowbanks in cold, attending his one-room school, and learning the lessons of love, loss, and togetherness that sustained his rural community. From funny anecdotes and family vacations to reflections on hardship and tragedy, this memoir of growing up as...