Going Driftless is a book that explores a whole world within a world in the upper Midwest and looks at the nostalgia of small towns and local living (eating, shopping, etc.)—and asks how does it work what lessons can we learn from it.

The people that will be most affected by a “greater Cedar Rapids” were staying home, or were still coping in FEMA trailers where the water pipes routinely burst in the harsh Iowa winter, or were living with relatives, or had simply disappeared and moved on or given up. They had sold theirflooded houses for a song or had taken out a mortgage at the age of seventy. They were buried under massive mounds of bureaucratic paperwork, trying to get a check so they could rebuild or relocate....