Author Description

Small towns occupy a cherished place in American life. They are praised by politicians, who brag about their small-town roots. Television and movies portray an idyllic life in small-town America. But like so many of our cherished traditions, much about the small town is a myth. Just as myth overshadows the reality of the American West, reality of the small town is shrouded in the myth of a place where urban problems do not exist. Slap Happy, Arkansas tells about the fall of one small town, where reality overwhelms myth, and the residents’ lives, which are so intertwined, are changed forever by one seemingly insignificant event—a doctor’s botched diagnosis. The people of Slap Happy have ignored trouble bubbling just beneath the apparently placid waters of their small-town existence. But Doctor Bob’s mistake sets in motion the events that will shake Slap Happy and its residents to the core.