The Boys in the Bunkhouse: Servitude and Salvation in the Heartland

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.

This unforgettable work of investigative journalism reveals:

• A Hidden History: The shocking true story of dozens of men with intellectual disabilities, living in a dilapidated Iowa schoolhouse and hidden from the world for over thirty years.
• Decades of Exploitation: An unflinching look at the near-servitude inside a turkey processing plant, where men were paid just $65 a month to perform grueling labor.
• The Fight for Justice: The heroic, years-long battle waged by tenacious social workers, journalists, and a labor lawyer to expose the abuse and help the men reclaim their lives.
• A Story of Resilience: Drawn from exhaustive interviews, this is a deeply compassionate account of the men’s suffering, their fleeting joys, and the undying hope they held onto in the face of unimaginable trauma.

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It is a Dickensian tale from the heartland: a group of men with intellectual disability, all from Texas, living in a tired old schoolhouse in the tiny Iowa farm town of Atalissa and reporting before every dawn to eviscerate turkeys at a processing plant. In return, they receive food, lodging, and sixty-five dollars a month. Day after day, year after year, decade after decade, living in near servitude.

The people of Atalissa accepted and befriended the men—known as the “boys”—but failed to notice the hints of neglect, exploitation, and physical and emotional abuse. It was not until a few conscientious social workers, a local journalist, and one tenacious government lawyer came to their rescue that the men, though much older and grayer, found justice at last.

New York Times journalist Dan Barry reveals how these men remained all but forgotten for more than three decades, blending into the rural rhythm as occasional complaints about their living conditions went mostly ignored. Drawing on extensive personal interviews and reams of public records, Barry delves deep into their lives, summoning their memories and suffering, their tender moments of joy and persistent hopefulness—and, most of all, their endurance. He explores why this small town missed the telltale signs of exploitation, details how those responsible for such profound indifference justified their actions, and chronicles the lasting impact of a dramatic court case that has spurred advocates to push for just pay and improved working conditions for people with disabilities.

A luminous work of social justice, told with compassion and compelling detail, The Boys in the Bunkhouse is inspired storytelling and a clarion call for vigilance—an American tale that holds lasting meaning for all of us.

The people of Atalissa will tell you right off: Those Henry’s boys never complained. They’d mingle at the coffee hour after church, or browse at the minimart, or eat another community supper in the fire station, some of them prattling on about county fairs and NASCAR and Hawkeyes football. But they never whined. Never said boo about living in the same building and doing the same work at the same pay year after year.

But why didn’t the men complain? It is the same facile question that arises in cases of domestic violence, workplace harassment, and schoolyard bullying. The question comes from a position of doubt, at a safe distance: Sure, these guys had—what’s it called now? Right. So these guys had “intellectual disability.” But how would that stop them from complaining if they were being mistreated?

One answer could be that the bunkhouse boys believed they had nowhere else to go.

—from The Boys in the Bunkhouse

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“[Dan] Barry does more than simply recount the inning-by-inning-by-inning box score. He delves beneath the surface, like an archaeologist piecing together the shards and fragments of a forgotten society, to reconstruct a time and a night that have become part of baseball lore.” - Associated Press

“A fascinating, beautifully told story... In the hands of Barry, a national correspondent for the New York Times, this marathon of duty, loyalty, misery and folly becomes a riveting narrative...The book feels like ‘Our Town’ on the diamond.” - Minneapolis Star Tribune

“Dan Barry represents the magic that is possible in journalism when there is a convergence between a great story and great talent.” - Gay Talese

Praise for Bottom of the 33rd:

“What a book—an exquisite exercise in story-telling, democracy and myth-making that has, at its center, a great respect for the symphony of voices that make up America.” - Colum McCann

“An astonishing tale that lyrically articulates baseball?s inexorable grip on its players and fans, Bottom of the 33rd belongs among the best baseball books ever written.” - Cleveland Plain Dealer

“Dan Barry gives dignity even to the darkest corners of the American experience. He is the closest thing we have to a contemporary Steinbeck.” - Colum McCann, author of the National Book Award-winning Let the Great World Spin

“An important story about the horrors of slavery and exploitation that can happen to vulnerable people anywhere.” - The Atlantic

The story of these men gets the full telling it deserves in Dan Barry’s powerful, moving, and at times heartbreaking book, The Boys in the Bunkhouse.” - Commonweal Magazine

“Disturbing yet beautifully told...” - America Magazine

“Gently, emphatically, and indelibly, Barry conveys a tale of unthinkable brutality. - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“As an exposé of a moral catastrophe, this is a vital piece of reportage.” - New York Times Book Review

“Hard-hitting journalism shot through with flourishes of the best literary nonfiction. . . . The Boys in the Bunkhouse is, ultimately, a hopeful story of the power of a few dogged individuals to make change.” - Minneapolis Star Tribune

“An extraordinary contribution to the literature of social injustice. . . . The Boys in the Bunkhouse surely will emerge as one of the landmark books of the year.” - Providence Journal

“Barry’s book can’t right all those wrongs, but it at least documents them eloquently, and in a more permanent way.” - Kansas City Star

“The Boys in the Bunkhouse is not just a book about the victims but also a book that turns those victims into real men. Dan Barry has written them into history, as only a journalist could.” - Newsweek