Book review: Iowa journalist McElwain's published collection is a gem Michael Tidemann If you had been a journalist for 50 years, which stories and columns would you select for a collection of 273 pages? That was the challenge Iowa journalist Max McElwain faced in "Sharing a Napkin: Selected Writings 1969-2019." McElwain has succeeded admirably in producing this selection. What first struck me about McElwain’s collection was the sheer audacity, assuredness and intellectual vigor he showed at age 17 in his “Up Against the Wall” selections starting in July 1969 in The Woodbine (Iowa) Twiner where he bookended his long journalism career. The last selection in the book comes from The Twiner-Herald March 28, 2018, issue.