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What Happened to Paula
- On the Death of an American Girl
- Narrated by: Nan McNamara
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
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What Happened to Paula
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Publisher's Summary
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, 18-year-old Paula Oberbroeckling left her house in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and never returned. A cold case for 50 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.
Includes a downloadable PDF of Notes and the selected Readings from the book
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
What the critics say
"Dykstra casts a searing light on racism, sexism, and the stigma of being a ‘bad’ girl. This is the perfect blueprint for any true crime writer moved to investigate a cold case." (Publishers Weekly, starred review)
"What Happened to Paula is not only the story exploring theories about the crime that ended Paula's life; it also reflects on other true crime stories with women as their victims, including rape and rape-murder stories, and on the burdensome costs of being born in a female body. What Happened to Paula is sobering, insightful, and a highly recommended addition to both true crime and women's issues collections." (Midwest Book Review)
"A sharp and seductive investigation into the unsolved death of a young woman 50 years ago becomes, in Dykstra’s telling, an investigation into the genre of dead-girl true crime itself. A bracing and powerful book, unsentimental and sleek, and a roadmap for actual change." (Lacy Crawford, author of Notes on a Silencing)