Re-Centering the Midwest

My review of Jon K. Lauck's new book, From Warm Center to Ragged Edge, on the lost legacy of Midwestern literary and historical writing, has just been printed in the new issue of National Review.  From the piece:

Lauck’s aim, like Corkery’s before him, is not so much to change the opinions of those nested in distant coastal cities, but to help revive the consciousness of midwesterners of themselves as rooted citizens of a distinctive region and as participants in a frequently misrepresented but fundamentally sound cultural tradition. What he offers is a beautiful regional imagination, in the hope that the midwestern consciousness should come to flourish now, even as the forces that first eroded it are more potent than ever.

This is an important and timely book.  Click the picture to read the full review.

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