Sid Shroyer on "When Once Destroyed"

Join us for an evening with Sid Shroyer discussing his book, When Once Destroyed: A Historical Memoir of the Life and Death of a Small Town.
About this Event

ABOUT THE BOOK:

In this historical nonfiction book about small towns—and the big government that all-too-often lets them down—NPR affiliate broadcaster Sid Shroyer investigates the man-made flood that took his family's farm.

As a local host of WVPE's All Things Considered, Sid Shroyer is no stranger to local events that tell a larger story. In this historical memoir, he explores a story in his own family's archive: the destruction of his father's boyhood home in Somerset, Indiana . . . and how it was caused by people who were supposed to protect the community.

Through investigative reporting and research into government records, Shroyer discovered a dark secret. This tragedy was an avoidable result of biased social policies and ambition.

In this powerful exposé of the politics behind a devastating disaster, discover how government representatives:

• sold residents a flood-control reservoir project behind the scenes and off the books,
• twisted the concepts of community recreation and economic development for political gain, and
• ignored the community and left those most affected without a voice . . . which ended in disaster.

With the continual uncovering of government involvement in environmental disasters like the water crisis in Flint, Michigan; Hurricane Katrina on the US Gulf Coast; and the Hinkley, California, groundwater contamination of Erin Brockovich notoriety, this government corruption book affirms that environmental activism in rural communities continues to be as important now as ever.

In this searing commentary on what the powerful can do to the powerless, discover what is lost in the name of profitability—and why telling these stories is the first step to lasting change.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

To devote his time to When Once Destroyed, Sid Shroyer retired in 2022 as a local on-air host of All Things Considered for the NPR affiliate WVPE Elkhart/South Bend. He continues to contribute radio essays for the station’s Michiana Chronicles segment. Sid is also retired from the English Department at New Prairie High School, New Carlisle, Indiana, where among other classes, he taught writing for college credit, the Literature of the Vietnam War and the Literature of the Holocaust. Sid was born in Marion and raised in rural Grant County, Indiana. He and his wife Judy Firestein Shroyer met at IU Bloomington in 1975 and have lived since 1977 in South Bend.