Description
Book SynopsisThis collection of essays revives and identifies anew the neglected study of the U.S. Midwest by promoting a diversity of viewpoints on midwestern history and culture.
Trade Review"In 2015, a group of historians met in Michigan to reinvigorate the study of midwestern history. The result of the meeting was a series of essays published in this engaging volume. Individual essays cover virtually every imaginable topic of the history of the American Midwest. . . . This book could be assigned in advanced undergraduate courses, and any faculty or academic staff whose teaching even remotely deals with the Midwest should read this book."—J. Shelton,
Choice“Engaging, provocative, and cogently argued. . . . This collection provides an insightful, perceptive, smart regional consciousness. This book will make its mark as an important contribution to the intellectual history of the Midwest as well as to the historiography of the region.”—R. Douglas Hurt, professor of history at Purdue University and author of
The Big Empty: The Great Plains in the Twentieth Century"Together the essays offer multiple ways of defining, identifying, understanding, and grappling with the Midwest and its history. They pose crucial questions and suggest some important conversations for the field."—Annette Atkins,
Missouri Historical Review"
Finding a New Midwestern History aims to invigorate the field of midwestern history, and its collection of essays succeeds at providing an expansive overview of potential areas of study."—Rachel Boyle,
Nebraska History"Collectively, the book's contributors illuminate the richness and complexity of the field, and they articulate why the Midwest deserves consideration anew in both scholarly research and the popular imagination."—Elizabeth Grennan Browning,
Michigan Historical Review"This new book reflects the laudable strengthening of Midwestern academic studies in recent years and is another important contribution to Midwestern studies by the University of Nebraska Press."—
Omaha World-Herald“The result isn’t comprehensive (even ten such volumes couldn’t claim to be), but the menu is richly varied. . . There is no single ‘Midwest,’ of course, but projects such as this . . . offer a much-needed alternative to disdain and cheerleading alike.”—John Wilson,
First Things "This engaging collection of essays examines midwestern history from a wide variety of perspectives, offering valuable insights into the region."—William C. Barnett,
Annals of Iowa "This is a valuable contribution to a reenergized field of study. Students of midwestern history will need to be familiar with it, and the region’s academic and public libraries will want to add it to their collections."—Robert G. Barrows,
Indiana Magazine of History"
Finding a New American History [is] a valiant effort . . . like the area it treats, it's unexpected, intensely satisfying, and full of riches."—Steve Donoghue,
Open Letters ReviewTable of ContentsList of Illustrations
Introduction: Toward a New Midwestern History
Jon K. Lauck, Joe Hogan, and Gleaves Whitney
Part 1. The Midwest as a Region
Chapter 1. The Birth of the Midwest and the Rise of Regional Theory
Michael C. Steiner
Chapter 2. How Nature and Culture Shaped Early Settlement in the Midwest
James E. Davis
Chapter 3. First Cousins: The Civil War’s Impact on Midwestern Identity
Nicole Etcheson
Part 2. The Midwest’s People
Chapter 4. Native Americans and Midwestern History
Susan E. Gray
Chapter 5. American and European Immigrant Groups in the Midwest by the Mid-Nineteenth Century
Gregory S. Rose
Chapter 6. Civic Life in a Midwestern Community
Paula M. Nelson
Chapter 7. Politics in the Promised Land: How the Great Migration Shaped the American Midwest
Jeffrey Helgeson
Part 3. The Iconic Midwest
Chapter 8. Midwestern Small Towns
John E. Miller
Chapter 9. The Agrarian Midwest: A Geographic Analysis
Christopher R. Laingen
Chapter 10. The Role of Sports in the Midwest
David R. McMahon
Part 4. Midwestern Landscapes
Chapter 11. The View from the River: Another Perspective on Midwestern History
Michael Allen
Chapter 12. The Midwest’s Spiritual Landscapes
Jon Butler
Chapter 13. The Development of Midwestern Cities
Jon Teaford
Part 5. The Midwest’s Voices
Chapter 14. Of Murals and Mirrors: Midwest Regionalism Then and Now
Zachary Michael Jack
Chapter 15. Midwestern Intellectuals
James Seaton
Chapter 16. Midwestern Musicians
James P. Leary
Chapter 17. Midwestern Writers: The Fourth Wave
David Pichaske
Part 6. The Midwestern Experience
Chapter 18. The Upper Midwest as the Second Promised Land
Gleaves Whitney
Chapter 19. Growing Up Midwestern
Pamela Riney-Kehrberg
Chapter 20. The Best of Babbitt: The Midwestern Vision of Arthur Vandenberg
Hank Meijer
Chapter 21. Of Conformity and Cosmopolitanism: Midwestern Identity since World War II
J. L. Anderson
List of Contributors
Index
