Book Review: The Wide-Brimmed Hat

I’m cautious when I write the first Goodreads review of a book that has been published for more than 20 years. That I read The Wide-Brimmed Hat at all is attributable to finding a first edition copy in a thrift shop or used book sale, and that it was written in and largely about Iowa and Midwestern values. I knew Susan Kuehn Boyd by name yet had no prior knowledge of her as an author before seeing this book.

The most interesting part is excerpts from Boyd’s May 1970 diary during the anti-war protests at the University of Iowa where her spouse Willard (a.k.a. Sandy) was president. I was a senior in high school that year and what I knew about that period was there were protests and the university closed early for the academic year because of them. Protesters occupied the president’s office in May 1970.

In her diary, Boyd shows a privileged life in the university community. During the protests, she and her family moved out of their home for security reasons, attended group luncheons as usual, and ate gourmet food, all well removed from main protest actions. She mentions both her spouse and D.C. Spriesterbach, who both have written about May 1970 in their books. Susan Boyd’s narrative adds another layer of perspective and I’m thankful to have found it.

The stories, play, and poetry that comprise the main part of the book are better suited to magazines like Mademoiselle which published some of her work. The book was readable and if one enjoys the kind of stories anthologized in short story collections, there is something here for you.