Arthur Johnson Memorial Library

Dykstra, Katherine

What happened to Paula : on the death of an American girl Katherine Dykstra - First edition - New York, NY W. W. Norton & Company 2021 - xiv, 291 pages 24 cm

Includes bibliographical references.

Preface -- The crime -- An inheritance -- The girl -- Her birthright -- Her coming of age -- The black boyfriend -- The detective -- The city -- The white boyfriend -- The timeline -- The flood -- The double bind -- Her options -- The phone call -- The true crime -- The Paulas -- Afterword.

"A riveting investigation into a cold case asks how much control women have over their bodies and the direction of their lives. In July 1970, eighteen-year-old Paula Oberbroeckling left her house in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and never returned. A cold case for fifty years, Paula's story had been largely forgotten when Katherine Dykstra began looking for answers. A woman was dead. Why had no one been held responsible? How could a community give up and move on? Could there ever be justice for Paula? Tracing the knowns and unknowns, Dykstra discovers a girl who was hemmed in by the culture of the late 1960s, when women's rights had been brought to the fore but had little practical bearing on actual lives. The more she learns about Paula, the more parallels Dykstra finds in the lives of the women who knew Paula, the lives of the women in her own family, and even in her own life. Captivating and expertly crafted, What Happened to Paula is a timely, powerful look at gender, autonomy, and the cost of being a woman"--

9780393651980 0393651983 9781324022091

2020053663


Oberbroeckling, Paula -1970


1900-1999


Murder--Iowa--Cedar Rapids--Case studies.
Cold cases (Criminal investigation)--Iowa--Cedar Rapids--Case studies.
Young women--Social conditions--Iowa--Cedar Rapids--20th century.
Pregnant teenagers--Social conditions--Iowa--Cedar Rapids--20th century.
Social Science--Sociology --General


Iowa--Cedar Rapids.
Iowa--Cedar Rapids



HV6534.C315 / D95 2021

363.2595230977762 Dyk 9