It is hard to imagine a version of Cranberry Township that was comprised of lush forests, gently rolling hills, and cascading waves of open fields. For the settlers who arrived here in the late 1700s, it was an Eden of abundant opportunity--tranquility that proved irresistible. They purchased hundreds of acres, built self-sustaining farms, and planted their roots. These pioneers had names like Graham, Garvin, Duncan, Meeder, Rowan, and Goehring, and many of their descendants still remain. ...

In this work of creative nonfiction, author Kate Benz provides an intimate look at the present-day residents of Courtland, Kansas (population 285), a town whose economy depends almost entirely on agriculture.Through charming, first-person accounts, Nothing but the Dirt: Stories from an American Farm Town tells the whole story of life in Courtland, bucking the “Rural America is dying” narrative that so often proliferates national headlines about small-town USA.Throu...