The Middle West: Its Meaning in American Culture

by James R. Shortridge

It is the "heartland," the home of the average—middle—American. Yet the definition of the Middle West, that most amorphous of regions, is elusive and changing. In historical, cultural, political, literary, and artistic terms the region is variously drawn. It is alternately praised as a pastoral oasis and damned as a cultural backwater, fostering wholesome pragmatism and crass materialism, home to people at once resilient and embittered, hardworking and complacent. From Willa Cather to Sherwood Anderson, from The Wizard of Oz to The Music Man, images of the Middle West are powerful and contradictory.

In this thoughtful book, cultural geographer James R. Shortridge offers a historical probe into the "idea" of the Middle West. By exploring what this term originally meant and how it has changed over the past 150 years, he presents a fascinating look at the question of regional identity and its place in the collective consciousness. A work of unconventional geography based on extensive research in popular literature, this volume examines meaning, essence, character—the important intangibles of place not captured by statistical studies—and explores the intimate connections between the notion of pastoralism and the definition of the Middle West.

Genres: Nonfiction

216 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gave up on this one. Perhaps the most interesting chapters were the ones i skipped ... those with all the maps and demographics. I couldn't in good conscience hold on to it any longer and i was embroiled in several other much more intriguing titles, so i had to give it back to the friend who kindly lent it to me after an energetic lunchtime conversation about The Concept we take for granted around here (Detroit/Michigan), namely The Midwest.

[Marcel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Shortridge's use of textual sources is very weak; it's like he's trying to do cultural studies, but he didn't get the memo that the discipline already exists. His habit of anthropomorphizing the Middle West ("the region did X") is also a little bizarre.

That said: Chapter 5, which has maps of the Midwest as drawn by college kids in different parts of the country, is admittedly cool, and the bibliography is worth scavenging.

[Marvin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cultural geographer’s account of the changing and present images and understandings of the Midwest. A short, interesting book that’s fairly easy to read.