The Good Country: A History of the American Midwest, 1800-1900

The Good Country: A New History of the American Midwest restores the Midwest to its central place in American history, highlighting its democratic advancements, civic culture, and regional identity. It challenges the indifference and disdain that have long stood in for the region's true story and provides a balanced analysis of historical achievements and injustices.

Format: Hardback
Length: 366 pages
Publication date: 17 November 2022
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press

The American Midwest has long been overlooked or disregarded in the annals of American history, but a new book, "The Good Country," seeks to rectify this oversight. Written by Jon K. Lauck, a renowned historian of the region, the book offers a comprehensive chronicle of the Midwest's formative century, restoring it to its rightful place in the nation's narrative.

Lauck's unique approach centers on the "squares" of the Midwest, a group of individuals who were instrumental in shaping the region's history. By placing these ordinary citizens at the forefront of his narrative, Lauck offers a fresh perspective on the Midwest that challenges traditional narratives.

What emerges from "The Good Country" is a portrait of the Midwest as the most democratically advanced place in the world during the nineteenth century. The region was characterized by a rich civic culture that valued education, literature, libraries, and the arts. It developed a stable social order grounded in Victorian norms, republican virtue, and Christian teachings, and generally put democratic ideals into practice to a greater extent than any nation to date.

The outbreak of the Civil War and the fight against the slaveholding South only deepened the Midwest's dedication to advancing a democratic culture and solidified its regional identity. The "good country" was, of course, not the "perfect country," and Lauck devotes a chapter to the question of race in the Midwest, finding early examples of overt racism but also discovering a steady march toward racial progress. He also finds many instances of modest reforms enacted through the democratic process and designed to address particular social problems, as well as significant advances for women, who were active in civic affairs and took advantage of the Midwest's openness to women in higher education.

Lauck reaches his conclusions through a measured analysis that weighs historical achievements and injustices, rejects the acrimonious tones of the culture wars, and seeks a new historic. "The Good Country" is a valuable addition to the literature on American history, offering a fresh perspective on a region that has been overlooked for far too long.

Weight: 712g
Dimension: 161 x 237 x 34 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780806190631