If you’re from the Midwest and you need to feel bad about being from the Midwest read this book. I am a big fan of Belt Publishing and I was excited to read this book. It started out as an interesting topic with the first chapter discussing the boundaries and contours of what it means to say the Midwest and I was exited to see where the author would go next. But after a couple of chapters it became depressing. what he had to say is that anything good about the Midwest seems to be a myth. so just remember if you grew up there and felt good about it, read this book it will let you know it not to trust your senses and that it was all a fairy tale. Our companies exploit us, cars are bad, Nazis are on the way, and there are racists everywhere. Near the end of the book the author focused on a very personal political agenda (very focused on ICE). If you need yet one more book to remind you to feel rotten about the state of the world this is the book for you.

In addition to his opening chapter I found the source notes at the end provided some interesting reading for the future.
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This is a book about what "Midwestern" means. Any American will get some insight from it, but for me, as someone who grew up in southern Indiana, specifically in Bloomington, I feel both natively midwestern and also not midwestern at all. The book helped me understand just what the term has meant during its existence, and helped me solidify previously nebulous concepts with a grounding in their history and the history of the region. As the title suggests, the tie the binds all the nebulous concepts of what is midwestern can be traced back to the idea of a future, or many futures. The place was modeled on hope, and in hope it persists. The book explores those futures, as seen from the past and present, with a gentleness and caring for its subjects that feels rare in a book with this kind of historical scope.

It is also a paean for a kind of egalitarian leftist-humanist understanding of the present and its possibilities, with nurturing and understanding, and with a grace and vulnerability in the writing that feels rare and is most welcome. ( )