Rating: 
Summary: some surprises in this balanced account
Review: (...)Stephen Bloom has written a balanced account that will stir you to perhaps re-think some of your ideas of diversity, friendship, and kinship. His study of Postville,Iowa, where a colony of strict Hassidic Jews have opened a hugely successful kosher slaughterhouse, is told against the backdrop of his own young family's emigration from San Francisco to the academic groves of Iowa City. Bloom gets to know both the native Iowans--"tall, big-boned, blonde people" like Garrison Keillor's Lake Woebegon folks--and the Jewish families, from Crown Heights, Brooklyn. He relishes the quick wit, the overlapping conversations, the lively warmth and good food of the Jewish Sabbath meals. He also appreciates the personal and financial integrity, and the wide-open friendliness of the native Iowans. Bloom writes well of the Iowa landscape, and the summer evenings when you can hear rumblings and cracklings from the fields, sounds of the corn growing. Read this book to draw your own conclusions about who excludes whom, who uses whom, and who is to blame for the animosity between the two groups. It's a light read, but a rewarding one!
Rating: 
Summary: This was painful to my brain.
Review: A not insignificant element of this book is the critique of Hasidim as treating women inferiorly, compared to the "enlightened" modern secular society of which the author (and his wife whose opinion on feminism he regularly refers) belongs. Yet in the book, the author describes relaxing on the porch drinking a beer while his wife weeds the garden; going for a walk to clear his mind leaving his wife in the hotel room to pack their belongings; and the author regularly describes the Jewish women he meets by their appearance: how much lipstick they may be wearing, how their clothes appear, comparing one to a Hollywood celebrity and describing the wife of one rabbi as a "knockout". (This man's behavior ironically supports the mechitza (partial divider between the men and women in orthodox synagogues) that he and his wife so disparage...I would not want to be a woman in shul with a creature like him, to be leered at and objectified as he does to the wife of every man he meets.) Basically, he sounds like a pig, and this completely invalidates any criticism he or his wife may hold about how religious Jewish men supposedly do not respect women.
In addition, as many of the reviews here demonstrate, this book has succeeded in feeding the animosity towards Jews that some people have, which is a shameful thing for Jewish author to do.
Rating:
Summary: Insightful & Entertaining - A Review by a Native Iowan
Review: I believe that I bring more to this review than the average reader, being that I am not only a native Iowan, native of Iowa City, but am also married to a daughter of two natives of Postville (the first on each side of the family to leave Postville, actually). As such, I've actually not only had the opportunity to visit Postville myself, but have also met with and discussed the demographic status of the town with not just a few citizens of Postville. The current scene in Postville is a fascinating one, without question.
I must confess that I began this book with an admonishment in mind from my in-laws ("That book ruffled a LOT of feathers in Postville. It is too one-sided.") (It is interesting to read not only the reviews that accuse Professor Bloom of being biased towards the (ultra-Orthodox) Lubavicher Jews, but the reviews accusing Bloom of being baised against them!) In the early parts of the book it is easy to draw this conclusion, as Bloom is less than charitable to Iowas as a whole, in my view. The way in which Iowa, Iowa City, and even life surrounding the University of Iowa (my alma mater) was surprising to me, at least as a person who spent years 0-18 in Iowa City and 19-26 at the University of Iowa. Undoubtedly Bloom's background played a huge role in his characterization of Iowans, but by the half-way-mark of the book I realized that Bloom was likely exaggerating for effect (and to sell more books to our friends living on either coast who will, no doubt, eat that stuff up).
By the end I further realized how effective Bloom's approach was. My own sense of Bloom's over-use and eagerness to levy the anti-Semitism charge is due in part to set the reader up for a rather surprising conclusion, as well as a natural reaction of a member of a group of folks who have been historically discriminated against a persecuted mercilessly for centuries. In either case, my point is that one ought not be too discouraged by what might appear to some as a rather arrogant "urban" view of the "rural simpletons" of Iowa. Bloom likes it in Iowa, after all.
By the book's end Bloom comes out against the Lubavichers' behavior in Postville, but is in no way overly biased toward the Lutheran natives of Postville (who also display some less than admirable behavior toward the Lubavichers). If anything, Bloom is likely influenced most by his own secular Judaism and his acceptance of the value of assimilation (at least to a degree - something that the Postville Lubavichers are unwilling to do). Racism flows back and forth on both sides, to be sure. Despite all the ugliness of the culture clash, this book is not only one man's interesting and enlightening analysis, it is also a fantastic journey into what it means to be a secular Jew in a very Christian nation.
I found the book riveting. I still believe that certain alleged characteristics of Iowa and Iowans are exaggerated, but (again) by the end of the book the exaggerations appear more of a useful tool to underscore certain main points and themes. Overall, "Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America" is an insightful, entertaining, and inspiring read.
Rating: 
Summary: Utterly fascinating and educational
Review: I had mixed feelings while reading Postville. I heard Stephen Bloom speak about his book before I read it and understood his point of view about his ultimate negative impression of the Hasidim and their culture juxtaposed to that of the Postville townies. He objected to his introduction by a Rabbi at another of his speaking engagements in calling him a "bagel and lox Jew". I can also be put into that category yet when reading Bloom's account of how and why the Hasidim live the way they do, I came away with a better understanding of their lifestyle. I certainly can't say that I agree with their obnoxious behavior towards the local Postville people but they are living in a culture that their sect has devoutly observed for many many years. They ask nothing of anyone except to be left alone. Unfortunately, as business people in a town where you have to interact with others, it is not too much to expect common courtesy, which many of the Hasids in Postville did not apply. Bloom did say that they do not necessarily represent the general Hasidic population because they are basically butchers without any social graces and it shows. It is also understandable for the local Postville residents to resent the Jews and their strange life style who just pop into their town and virtually alter their culture. In the real world there will always be some anti-semitism just as their will always be some racism. To be angry with the Jews behavior toward them does not make them all anti-semitic. The book clearly demonstrates a real clash of cultures.
The book also reveals Bloom's own clash of cultures within himself as he tries to relate to his own Jewishness which seems to be based only on his favorite Jewish foods, not any form of religous observance, with his assimilation into the secular midwestern, gentile culture.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating, but flawed
Review: I'll start out by saying that I could not put this book down. Being very interested in Jewish culture, sociology, and true stories about people interacting with one another, I was mesmerized by this book from the beginning. Blum is a very talented observational writer with an amazing mind for detail and an ear for humorous idiosyncrasies and dialogue. For these reasons I give this book four stars.
However, like other reviewers I was taken aback that Blum, a Jew, sided with the native Iowans against the Lubavitchers. Due to that, his portrayal of the Lubavitchers in Postville seemed a bit biased against them. Also, the portrayal of the culture of the native Iowans seemed unrealistic considering the book was set in the 1980s and 1990s: the native Iowans' lifestyles were portrayed like something out of the nineteenth century, and according to Blum they were all (aside from some anti-Semitism they showed toward him) saintly, altruistic, salt-of-the-earth types. I believe the real truth about them and about the Lubavitchers lies somewhere in between.
Rating:
Summary: It's not journalism, but read it anyway.
Review: No, it's not "good journalism," it's biased and even angering as the previous reviewers have stated. The author doesn't speak to as many Hassidic sources as he does to townspeople. Part of the way through the book, he takes a side completely and stops speaking to the Hassidim entirely. He doesn't break down many myths about either side but particularly he doesn't understand how the Hassidim treat women, which is disappointing given his natural position as potential ambassador between the two groups. It's clear that he does not practice what he preaches (that is, remaining objective and having two sources back up each fact that he uses). So, the first 200 pages of "analysis" are a little bit disappointing and predictable, speaking in vague terms about mild anti-semitism.
What makes this book truly worth reading is what happens about 200 pages in. Bloom stops reporting on the situation and starts reporting more correctly on several specific topics, namely: the business practices of the Hassidim in Postville, certain incidents in the local area, and - most fascinatingly - about the criminal actions of and obstruction of justice by a small handful of Hassidim in Northeast Iowa.
It's absolutely worth reading Bloom's tepid analysis for 200 pages to get to these 130 pages of rather engrossing stories.
Rating:
Summary: A good account, but not a great one.
Review: Stephen Bloom writes a somewhat personal account of his experience with the Lubavitcher Chasidim who settled in Postville, Iowa and set up a kosher slaughterhouse there. He attempts to write a balanced account of the encounter that led to a contested vote that led to the town annexing the land under the slaughterhouse.
One can argue that it is less than entire unbiased because Bloom is an non-practicing Jew and is not always sympathetic to the Chasidim, although he usually is. Truthfully, the Chasidim came into town unwilling to become familiar with the local culture but at the same time, I'm less than certain that the prejudices of the locals didn't factor in.
Overall, it is a good account, but not without small flaws. Probably the best part is that Bloom is fairly honest about his own outlook, so any subjectivity that he may have is out the open.
Rating:
Summary: The true reasons for "anti-semitism," aside from usury...
Review: The true reasons for "anti-semitism," aside from usury, are accidentally explained in "Postville," this fascinating non-fictional work (written by Stephen G. Bloom, secular Jew, by the way) about what happens when a group of Lubavitcher Jews moves into a small Protestant town in Iowa to open a meat processing plant. You will never understand Historical "anti-semitism" until you understand the dynamics described in this book, understand the nature of usury and fractional reserve banking, and read what the post-Temple Jewish religion (Pharisaism) teaches.
Rating: 
Summary: pornville?
Review: This book describes the odyssey of a journalist wholly uncomfortable with his Jewish identity. If you appreciate literary works grounded on negativity and inner turmoil, you will feel right at home with this tome. Bloom's personal vendetta with the entire Hasidic community is based on his unfortunate encounters with several severe personalities within the Hasidic community.
As a writer intending to pen a work of non-fiction, Bloom selectively chooses his "information" according to his convenience. Case in point; while expounding on the virtues of the town of Postville, the author is meticulous in transmitting precise details. However, when discussing the malevolent and baseless myth that Hasid's fornicate through a perforated sheet, Bloom does not bother to discredit this demonizing falsity. No less than on three occasions does Mr. Bloom mention this supposed tradition. And each time he fails in debunking this sexual scuttlebutt.
Rating:
Summary: Does the author carry personal baggage?
Review: This book is extrememly interesting and I had trouble putting it down. This is a compelling story of a culture clash in the heartland of America. A Hasidic community sprung up in the small town of Postville, Iowa for the purpose of setting up a Glatt Kosher meat slaughetring and processing plant. There is a boon to the economy of this Iowa community but, the largely Luthern farmers and the fundamemtalist Jewish newcomers are locked in a culture clash. Some of the non Jewish townspeople are supportive of the newcomers (largely people whose businesses have greatly benefitted from the Jewish influx). Others are hostile, some claiming they have had untoward experiences with the newcomers. The author draws conclusions and, quite frankly, these are rather harsh judgments of the Hasidim who settled in Postville. I had the opportunity to speak with a city councilman who is mentioned in the book (Aaron Goldsmith). Based upon my conversation with this articulate member of the Postville orthodox community, I am convinced that Bloom was unfair in his characterizations. Councilman Goldsmith, on the one hand, is a very observant Jew and on the other hand, he is proud of the city he represents and commited to representing all citizens, Jewish and non jewish alike. Bloom sees the Hasidim as standoffish, unscrupulous in their business practices, and disdainful of their non Jewish neighbors. In evaluating Bloom's conclusions, although it is hard to determine how much his personal perceptions get in the way of his objectivity, Councilman Goldsmith provides additional insights of Bloom's hostility to the Hasidic and indeed, greater Jewish community. In reading the book, we learn that Bloom is Jewish and he had recently settled in Iowa City with his wife and son to teach at the University of Iowa. In a new afterword to the book, Bloom notes that he had enrolled his son in a religious school program at Iowa City's only synagogue but withdrew him from the school for, what to me, appeared to be a very petty reason. In short, Bloom is an extremely secular Jew who appears to have almost no commitment to his Jewish community. Councilman Goldsmith stated to me some disturbing additional information, including the fact that Bloom has, at times, lost his journalistic objectivity and gotten into angry arguments including statements that local Jews are being interested only in money. I am unsure whether Bloom's extreme secularism has led to a hostility toward the fundamentally orthodox community in Postville. I know many very orthodox individuals from the black hat, beard and "tzizit" (fringed garment) wing of the orthodox community. In order to preserve that type of community, they take measures against assimilation and therefore tend to remain separate from the overall community. However, the observations Bloom makes seem very harsh based upon my own experiences. Additionally, a long conversation with Coucilman Goldsmith who was elected with votes of many non Jews, I am convinced that many of the observant Jews, as exemplified by Goldsmith, cannot possibly fit the descriptions set forth by Bloom. I know that Bloom cannot possibly be accurately judsing all members of this particular orthodox community. It is evident that his objectivity is clouded due to his extreme secularization. This book tells a compelling tale and, although I am skeptical that Bloom's judgments are correct, "Postville" is a book that is hard to put down.
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