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How did a guy from Des Moines, Iowa, become the top-selling nonfiction writer in England?

In Bill Bryson's case, he worked hard at his craft. Moving to England 30 years ago undoubtedly helped.

Books such as The Lost Continent, Notes From a Small Island and I'm a Stranger Here Myself solidified a growing reputation. Then he hiked the Appalachian Trail with the Falstaffian Steven Katz for A Walk in the Woods. Bryson went solid gold. That book sold millions.

Bryson's book projects took him around the world: to Africa, Europe and Australia. He wanted to write about something more familiar, so that he could work at home for a while.

He decided to write The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, a memoir about growing up in Des Moines, Iowa, in the '50s and '60s. Do you remember what you were doing 40 years ago? I do.

I was delivering the Des Moines Tribune (so was Bryson). I was hanging out at Riverview Amusement Park (so was Bryson). I was trying to finagle my way into the girlie shows at the Iowa State Fair (so was Bryson).

It was a haunting feeling to read The Thunderbolt Kid. Bryson is a few years older than I, but we grew up during the same period in the same neighborhood in Des Moines. Thankfully, he's funnier than I am.

Bryson changed names to obscure the guilty. I asked him about the gang he calls "the Butter Boys." He admitted that "I did exaggerate because they weren't all bullies, but they did eat squirrels and stuff."

He alternates between chapters about Des Moines and more general meditations upon the great trends of those days, from McCarthyism to above-ground nuclear testing.

I was in stitches for most of the book as Bryson reflected upon times when people were more relaxed, like his dad, a sportswriter, who would stroll around the house late at night without any pants on. "We all dressed for comfort at home."

The author revels in the memories of the TV shows, the movies, the advertisements, the candy, the hangouts — all the things we now call pop culture.

I interviewed his cohort, Steven Katz, about A Walk in the Woods, and he was slightly miffed about Bryson's descriptions of Katz' rampages along the Appalachian Trail. This new book recounts Katz' delinquencies from long- ago Des Moines.

I asked Katz if he had really stolen entire boxcar-loads of beer. He admitted "that was all pretty much on the mark." Katz is a pseudonym; he's recently been outed as Matthew Angerer and seems to be enjoying this lack of anonymity.

Angerer attended a Bryson book-signing in Des Moines for The Thunderbolt Kid. A man in the crowd spotted him. "You're Katz, aren't you? You still like the creme soda? Do you still love the Twinkies?"

Katz (Angerer) savored his glimmer of fame. "So, this is my moment in the sun."

Review

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid

by Bill Bryson, Broadway, 270 pages, $25.

Contact book reviewer Vick Mickunas at vick@vickmickunas.com.