The Midwest

Notions of Middle America abound within the American mindset, yet often forgotten are the manifold cultural elements found in the American Midwest. One encounters Native American ceremonial mounds as well as landmark creations from the Chicago School of Architecture. Old World European influences and northern border culture have helped shaped language and lore in Minnesota and Michigan's U.P., while the ragtime, jazz, and blues scenes in Missouri testify to the effects of the Great Migration and the Mississippi River. The Midwest―host to the 1893 World's Columbia Exposition and the 1904 World's Fair―encompasses Corn Belt communities, the Dairy State, and the Nation's Food Captial; the haunts of Al Capone and the fantastical Field of Dreams; and the birthplaces of Motown soul, House music, and alt.country, as well as Mark Twain and Ernest Hemingway. This reference provides a textured examination of the many ways in which the Midwest has served as an undeniable cross-section of American culture. The volume includes Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin.

The Greenwood Encyclopedia of American Regional Cultures is the first rigorous reference collection on the many ways in which American identity has been defined by its regions and its people. Each of its eight regional volumes presents thoroughly researched narrative chapters on Architecture; Art; Ecology & Environment; Ethnicity; Fashion; Film & Theater; Folklore; Food; Language; Literature; Music; Religion; and Sports & Recreation. Each book also includes a volume-specific introduction, as well as a series foreword by noted regional scholar and former National Endowment for the Humanities chairman William Ferris, who served as Consulting Editor for this encyclopedia.

JOSEPH W. SLADE is Co-Director of the Central Region Humanities Center and is also author of the award-winning reference set Pornography and Sexual Representation.

JUDITH YAROSS LEE is Co-Director of the Central Region Humanities Center.