"We quickly discovered during illicit forays into the picnic hamper that if you stuck a bunch of Ohio Blue Tip matches into an apple or hard-boiled egg, so that it resembled a porcupine, and casually dropped it out the tailgate window, it was like a bomb. It would explode with a small bang and a surprisingly big flash of blue flame, causing cars following behind to veer in an amusing fashion." Chapter 1, Page 10

"Stand on two phone books almost anywhere in Iowa and you get a view." Chapter 2, Page 15

"Aged black men sat on porches and stoops on old sofas and rocking chairs, waiting for death of dinner, whichever came first." - Description of Cairo, Illinois, Chapter 5, Page 52

"He explained that Southerners had become so sensitive about their reputation for being shit-squishing rednecks that all the presenters on TV and radio tried to sound as if they came...