About the Book

Population 485 is Mike Perry’s extraordinary and thoughtful account of returning to his small hometown of New Auburn, Wisconsin after a decade away. Unable to polka or repair his own pickup, his farm-boy hands gone soft after years of writing, Mike figures the best way to regain his credibility is to join the volunteer fire department. Against a backdrop of fires and tangled wrecks, bar fights and smelt feeds, he traces his “calls” on a map in the little firehouse, noticing how the story of this tiny town emerges and builds to a final chapter that is at once devastating and transcendent. Perry crafts a captivatingly comic tale leavened with quieter meditations on an overlooked America as he grows to know his neighbors on a much deeper level.

“This is a quietly devastating book--intimate and disarming and lovely.”-Adrienne Miller, Esquire

Critical Praise

“Population: 485 has a storytelling heart that won’t quit.” — New York Times Book Review

“Swells with unadorned heroism. He’s the real thing .” — USA Today

“In the best tradition of books that pay quiet homage to community servicy, place, and the men and women who live there. A perfectly pitched celebration of small-town life...” — Kirkus Reviews

“This is a quietly devastating book--intimate and disarming and lovely.” — Adrienne Miller, Esquire

“Minnesota has Garrison Keillor...Neighboring Wisconsin has Michael Perry. If you read one non-fiction title this autumn, make it this one. It’s that good.” — The Sunday Oklahoman

“Part portrait of a place, part rescue manual, part rumination of life and death, Population: 485 is a beautiful meditation on the things that matter.” — Seattle Times

” Population: 485 is bound to be one of the best non-fiction books of the year...Filled with moments of tenderness, humor and just plain goofiness as it takes us into the lives and homes of the inhabitants of one small town...Makes for riveting reading.” — Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel

“...finely crafted, hard to come by honesty.” — Hope Magazine

“Somewhere between Garrison Keillor’s idyllic-sweet Lake Wobegon and the narrow-mindedness of Sinclair Lewis’ “main Street” lies the reality of small-town life. This is where Michael Perry lives.” — St. Paul Pioneer Press

“...may simply be the best book about small-town life ever written.” — Wisconsin State Journal

“Humorous, poignant...” — Chicago Tribune

“a remarkable new book, sometimes comic - sometimes sad...” — Los Angeles Times

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Product Details

• ISBN: 9780061363504
• ISBN 10: 0061363502
• Imprint: Harper Perennial
• On Sale: 08/25/2015
• Trimsize: 5.310 in (w) x 8.000 in (h) x 0.630 in (d)
• Pages: 280
• List Price: $17.99
• BISAC1 : HUMOR / Topic / Cultural, Ethnic & Regional
• BISAC2 : HISTORY / United States / State & Local / Midwest (IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MO, ND, NE, OH, SD, WI)
• BISAC3 : BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Personal Memoirs