Post 3 of 6. Another non-fiction book review. And, another author who grew up poor, but this time under the constant threat of an abusive father. I discovered this title in one of Sarah Smarsh's essays, where she discussed a young man who struggled with what he saw and learned at a modern-day oil boomtown in the heart of North Dakota. It was one hell of an experience.
The Good Hand: A Memoir of Work, Brotherhood, and Transformation in an American Boomtown by Michael Patrick F. Smith
Have you ever heard of the Bakken fracking boom? I had not until I read this book. Apparently, it began in 2007 somewhere in North Dakota called the Bakken Formations. Basically, fracking and high global oil prices made it profitable to drill in this region. Thousands of men (yes, almost exclusively men) descended on Williston, ND, nearly doubling the population in a decade. While the state and federal government, along with US oil companies, made a fortune, the region was left with deep scars: unaffordable housing, permanently injured workers and at least seventy-six deaths, unprosecuted sexual assaults and murders (especially among indigenous girls and women), environmental degradation, and an unhealthy focus on domestic oil production with no concern for its consequences. By 2014 it all began to dry up.
Into this, throw a man in his thirties, who decided to leave a paying administrative job in New York City to see if he could make it among the hardened men of the oil fields. He took with him dreams of making money fast, and discovering himself through hard, dirty work and male comradery. Well, he returned to New York City with one of those two things, along with the makings of a book.
Besides getting an overview of what an oil boom can do to a small city, its inhabitants, and those who descend upon it (think lots of drugs, alcohol, violence, and sex), the book does a deep dive on physical labor, in all its ugliness. Besides the dangers of oil work, there is the trauma that these workers bring with them into fields. Boomtowns seem to attract the broken and the destitute. And, like prison, it amplifies all that pain.
For example, one of the first rumors the author was exposed to upon arriving in the city was that of man-on-man rape. He was warned several times to watch his back, and keep an eye on his drinks while in bars, lest some guy slips him something, and takes him behind a pick up truck. Some of the men arriving in the city had seen prison time. Oil companies were not concerned with criminal pasts, unless they were DUI's, which could affect driving records and insurance costs. Other men had experienced sexual abuse while children. Male sexual predators preying on other men was nothing new.
Like himself, the author met many men who grew up under abusive fathers or male figures. Physical violence was seen as normal. Alcohol and drug abuse were prevalent in those oil fields, too. So were negative attitudes toward women. In a few scenes, the author relates several tales of female rape, sexual assault, and domestic abuse. All of this trauma concentrated in one place was not healthy for anyone.
A few other observations also caught my attention. The blatant racism was disturbing. These were the Obama years, when white conservatives were fond of telling everyone that racism was dead. In Williston, ND it was not dead, nor was it hidden. In fact, the author noticed less incidents of homophobia than he did of racism. The anti-liberal fervor was overwhelming, too. When his co-workers found out that he voted for Obama, the taunting was brutal. Eventually it subsided, because the dangers and hard work required in those oil fields were a constant distraction. Still, the sheer hatred of Obama, of Democrats, and anyone who dared question American exceptionalism, was on full display. Finally, in one of his earliest encounters with a roommate (there were five grown men sleeping to a room in one house), the author confronts a wild conspiracy theory.
So, for me, this book was yet another snapshot into the lives of Americans whom I would probably never meet, in a part of the country I will most likely never live, at a time, despite having a profound economic, political, social, and environmental impact on this country, I have either forgotten about, or never knew existed. It is not pretty. These are traumatized people living in a broken town, working hard so that the rest of the country can putter on, and oil execs and shareholders can become even wealthier. There are lessons to be learned, and solutions to be found, but as long as few people know about it, we will continue to repeat these mistakes.
The next time you hear someone say "Drill, Baby, Drill", ask them if they have every lived at the epicenter of an oil boom. Chances are, unless they worked at, or resided in, Williston, ND, during the Bakken fracking boom, they have no idea.
Coming up...
Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope by Nicholas D. Kristoff and Sheryl WuDunn
Armageddon: What the Bible Really Says About the End by Bart D. Ehrman
Previous Reviews in this Series...
The Good Hand: A Memoir of Work, Brotherhood, and Transformation in an American Boomtown by Michael Patrick F. Smith
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