"Dives deep into Midwestern literature, unpacking the mythology of the region and how today's writers are complicating our simple idea of the Heartland." — Huffington PostIn the public imagination, Midwestern literature has not evolved far beyond heartland laborers and hardscrabble immigrants of a century past. But as the region has changed, so, in many ways, has its fiction. In this book, the author explores how shifts in work, class, place, race, and cul...

Despite its modest size, the village of Lyons has played a key role in the growth of nearby Chicago. In 1673, French explorers Fr. Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet learned of a Native American portage route connecting the Mississippi River and Lake Michigan, and that path helped make Lyons an important stop for fur traders and other businessmen throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries. In 1834, the town boasted just �a saw mill, three houses, and a tavern,� but by the 1830s and 1840s...