In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mount Pleasant, Iowa—November 11, 1918. Four-yearoldJamesVanAllenandhisfamilypressedintothecrowdthat packed the town square in Mount Pleasant. The great war in Europe was over, his parents told the child and his brother George. The Germans had surrendered under terms of the Armistice signed that day. In the chilly twilight, orators hailed therighteousvictory.PreachersprayedfortheMountPleasant Boysof1917wholaydeadinthetrenchesoftheArgonneForest in France. And the high school band played patriotic songs. It almost seemed like the Fourth of July when flames leapt againstthenightskyandrivetedJames’sattention.Theflames outlined the figure of a man with a pointed helmet. The straw body burned quickly and Alfred Van Allen explained that the figure represented Kaiser Wilhelm II, the German leader who had led the world into war. • • • The garish mock execution traced an indelible memory in the little boy’s mind, one of a series of earliest memories from that fall and winter. More than eighty years later, James Van Allen vividly recalled his walk to Saunders School on his first day of kindergarten that fall. He proudly wore a military campaign hat like the one worn by General John Pershing, who led American troops to victory in Europe. And James recalled thinking he was dying as he drifted in and out of consciousness with a raging fever from the flu epidemic that spread across the globe that winter, killing millions. Thelittleboyhealed,buttheworldaroundhimdidnot.The war ignited revolution in Russia and planted the seeds for the Nazi Party in Germany. The staggering political and social changes would catapult research into the realm of “big science ,” with national laboratories and a national space proHeartland Boyhood 2 gram in which Van Allen would play so momentous a role. Closer to home, rapid-fire inventions remolded everyday life in Mount Pleasant. The community -run power plant that Alfred Van Allen and his fellow aldermen spearheaded brought electricity to the town and surrounding farms. Telephone lines, cars, and an occasional glimpse of an airplane overhead made distant places seem closer and brought more people to the county seat. • • • Alfred Van Allen entrenched his political power base in Mount Pleasant shortly after his marriage. He watched Mount Pleasant’s new courthouse take shape in 1913 right across from his office, aware that the political scandal surrounding the whole project meant a certain win for the county Republicans in the next election. The Democrats had won enough seats in the previous election to control the county board of supervisors and gave a politically connected brick plant the contract to make 700,000 bricks for the courthouse construction. But none of the bricks were used on the building. Van Allen led the GOP back to a majority on the county board in 1914, the year his second son, James, was born. Alma Olney Van Allen gave birth to four sons in the first ten years of her marriage.GeorgeOlneywasbornonMay28,1912,JamesAlfredonSeptember 7, 1914, Maurice Wright on April 3, 1918, and William Albert on September 6, 1921. She delivered them at home in the cherrywood bedstead her husband ordered custom-made from the trees in their own orchard. The rugged, hardworking Alma recovered quickly from each birth and relied on advice for new mothers in Procter and Gamble’s 1912 edition of How to Bring Up a Baby. Handyman Slim Norton and a succession of country girls hired on to assist Alma with chores as she raised her four boys. Her household ran on a regimented schedule. The family usually rose at 7 A.M. and Alma made a simple breakfastofoatmealorCreamofWheatandfruit.Alfredleftfortheshortwalk tohisofficeeverymorningat8:30,aboutthesametimetheboysleftforschool, andeveryonereturnedhomeforlunchatnoon.Thefamilyhaddinnerat6P.M., eating chicken that Alma butchered herself or catfish after Alfred’s fishing expeditions to the Skunk River. On summer nights, the family took walks to the railroad depot where the eastbound Number 9 arrived in Mount Pleasant each evening. Alfred got acquainted with the engineer, who invited James to climb into the cab of the locomotive and pretend to be an engineer. Though diesel trains such as the Denver Zephyr began to roll through town, James loved the power and majesty of the Number 9 and the other huge locomotives that roared into town, belching smoke. Heartland Boyhood 17 The city’s power plant was the next stop on the walk. Coal shoveled into heaving blast furnaces powered the mammoth generator at the plant. James and George drew dramatic electric sparks from the long leather belt that powered the generator, further sparking their curiosity about all things mechanical . Back home after the walk, Alma mended slacks, shirts, and underwear. George wore new clothes ordered from...

Share