Remaking the Heartland: Middle America since the 1950s - Hardcover

Wuthnow, Robert

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 069114611X ISBN 13: 9780691146119

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2011

Synopsis

For many Americans, the Midwest is a vast unknown. In Remaking the Heartland, Robert Wuthnow sets out to rectify this. He shows how the region has undergone extraordinary social transformations over the past half-century and proven itself surprisingly resilient in the face of such hardships as the Great Depression and the movement of residents to other parts of the country. He examines the heartland's reinvention throughout the decades and traces the social and economic factors that have helped it to survive and prosper. Wuthnow points to the critical strength of the region's social institutions established between 1870 and 1950--the market towns, farmsteads, one-room schoolhouses, townships, rural cooperatives, and manufacturing centers that have adapted with the changing times. He focuses on farmers' struggles to recover from the Great Depression well into the 1950s, the cultural redefinition and modernization of the region's image that occurred during the 1950s and 1960s, the growth of secondary and higher education, the decline of small towns, the redeployment of agribusiness, and the rapid expansion of edge cities. Drawing his arguments from extensive interviews and evidence from the towns and counties of the Midwest, Wuthnow provides a unique perspective as both an objective observer and someone who grew up there.Remaking the Heartland offers an accessible look at the humble yet strong foundations that have allowed the region to endure undiminished.

About this title

About the Author

Robert Wuthnow is the Gerhard R. Andlinger '52 Professor of Social Sciences and director of the Center for the Study of Religion at Princeton University.

From the Back Cover

"In Remaking the Heartland, Robert Wuthnow demonstrates that the widely reported demise of the Midwest has been significantly exaggerated. Instead of a dying region, he finds a thriving one which has adapted to a challenging world by drawing on its own enduring institutions and behaviors."--David B. Danbom, author of Born in the Country: A History of Rural America

"Remaking the Heartland takes a refreshing look at Middle America and dispels common myths about what is happening there. It turns out that it is not one big place that ought to be turned into a buffalo commons after all. Robert Wuthnow has written a fine and well-researched book that will change the minds of many readers in positive directions."--R. F. Diffendal, Jr., University of Nebraska-Lincoln

"One of America's most prolific scholars of culture and change now turns his attention to his native Midwest. Robert Wuthnow paints a compelling portrait of the enduring vitality of this special part of America and offers a provocative narrative of how it is changing. Wuthnow's many fans--especially those with Midwestern ties--will enjoy his spirited, graceful, and well-evidenced argument that the heart of the American heartland still beats strong."--Robert D. Putnam, author ofBowling Alone and American Grace

"Drawing on published sources, government statistics, and autobiographical material, this book is a comprehensive appraisal of the social transformation of Middle America."--Glenn Fuguitt, University of Wisconsin-Madison and coauthor ofRural and Small Town America

"Remaking the Heartland is a compelling examination of the transformation of the Midwest in the postwar era. Combining an insider's empathy with the critical distance of someone who has moved away, Wuthnow debunks the myths of the heartland's decline and highlights the region's institutional riches and cultural creativity."--John Schmalzbauer, Missouri State University

From the Inside Flap

"In Remaking the Heartland, Robert Wuthnow demonstrates that the widely reported demise of the Midwest has been significantly exaggerated. Instead of a dying region, he finds a thriving one which has adapted to a challenging world by drawing on its own enduring institutions and behaviors."--David B. Danbom, author of Born in the Country: A History of Rural America

"Remaking the Heartland takes a refreshing look at Middle America and dispels common myths about what is happening there. It turns out that it is not one big place that ought to be turned into a buffalo commons after all. Robert Wuthnow has written a fine and well-researched book that will change the minds of many readers in positive directions."--R. F. Diffendal, Jr., University of Nebraska-Lincoln

"One of America's most prolific scholars of culture and change now turns his attention to his native Midwest. Robert Wuthnow paints a compelling portrait of the enduring vitality of this special part of America and offers a provocative narrative of how it is changing. Wuthnow's many fans--especially those with Midwestern ties--will enjoy his spirited, graceful, and well-evidenced argument that the heart of the American heartland still beats strong."--Robert D. Putnam, author of Bowling Alone and American Grace

"Drawing on published sources, government statistics, and autobiographical material, this book is a comprehensive appraisal of the social transformation of Middle America."--Glenn Fuguitt, University of Wisconsin-Madison and coauthor of Rural and Small Town America

"Remaking the Heartland is a compelling examination of the transformation of the Midwest in the postwar era. Combining an insider's empathy with the critical distance of someone who has moved away, Wuthnow debunks the myths of the heartland's decline and highlights the region's institutional riches and cultural creativity."--John Schmalzbauer, Missouri State University

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 069114611X
• ISBN 13: 9780691146119
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 376