AMES, IOWA — The small town of Postville, Iowa was a quiet home to a somewhat diverse population until May 2008. On May 12, an immigration raid on the town's Agriprocessors Inc. meatpacking plant ended in the arrest of 20% of Postville's residents. Since the raid, Postville has been the focal point of considerable attention.

Co-authors of a new book on Postville will share their personal experiences with this community in crisis in a panel discussion at Iowa State University. Titled "Postville USA: Surviving Diversity in Small-Town America," the panel discussion is scheduled for Nov. 18 at 7 p.m., in the Memorial Union Great Hall in Ames, Iowa.

Panelists are co-authors of the book with the same name and include Mark Grey, University of Northern Iowa anthropology professor and founder of the Iowa Center on Immigrant Leadership and Integration; Michele Devlin, professor of public health at U.N.I. and director of the Iowa Center on Health Disparities; and Aaron Goldsmith, former Postville city councilman and president and owner of Transfer Master Products, who received a rabbinical degree from Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim in Israel.