The Boys in the Bunkhouse: Servitude and Salvation in the Heartland Audiobook (Free)

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 the resilient band of men with intellectual disability, and the heroic initiatives of those who helped them to get justice and reclaim their lives.

In the tiny Iowa farm town of Atalissa, dozens of men, all with intellectual disability and everything from Texas, lived within an old schoolhouse. Before dawn every morning, these were bussed about The Children in the Bunkhouse: Servitude and Salvation in the Heartland to a nearby processing flower, where they eviscerated turkeys in return for meals, lodging, and $65 per month. They resided in near servitude for a lot more than thirty years, enduring increasing neglect, exploitation, and physical and psychological abuse-until state social workers, local journalists, and one tenacious labor lawyer helped these guys achieve freedom.

Sketching on exhaustive interviews, Dan Barry dives deeply into the lives from the men, documenting their recollections of struggling, 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 Leader Obama-to push for pay and improved functioning conditions for folks living with disabilities.

A luminous function of sociable justice, told with compassion and compelling fine detail, The Kids in the Bunkhouse is more than just inspired storytelling. It is a clarion require a vigilance that ensures inclusion and dignity for all those.