Hometown, S. D.

Have you ever wanted to slip off the interstate and follow that ribbon of blacktop you always see snaking over the horizon? It appears to end near the faint silhouette of a water tower, a church steeple and a pair of grain elevators. There's a simpler way of life there, a testament to South Dakota's rich rural history.

The next best thing to actually driving that highway can be found in Greg Latza's third book, Hometown, S.D. Intended to be a companion volume to Latza's first book, Back on the Farm, Hometown offers the same heartfelt and creative views of small town culture in our great state.

To create a collective picture of small town life, Latza spent three years visiting nearly all of the 650 current and former cities and towns in South Dakota. The result of his travels is a cohesive group of rich color photographs, one from each of 112 small towns across the state.

"It was an overwhelming experience," Latza said. "I was excited to find so many interesting people and places to photograph in our small towns. It was difficult to follow my self-imposed rule of publishing just one picture from the towns we selected for the final edit."

In Hometown, S.D. the charm of small town living comes alive before your eyes: Decades-old downtown businesses, the annual county fair, Main Street scenics, local festivals and fascinating people are all presented in a storytelling format accompanied by fact-filled captions. Renowned South Dakota author Linda Hasselstrom provides a thought-provoking foreword, and the rustic cover and reader-friendly design is by Jodi Holley Latza, Latza's wife and business partner.