"The Republic for Which It Stands"

All four of my grandparents were born in the "Gilded Age," between 1874 and 1887, and genealogy sometimes makes me more at home in the 19th century than the 21st. Now that I am almost one-quarter through Richard White's The Republic for Which It Stands: The United States During Reconstruction and the Gilded Age, 1865-1896, I can say it has enhanced my understanding of that time period more than any other single book.

Yes, this same guy also produced The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650-1815. IMO, any normal person would happily rest on the laurels of either work.

Middle West Review!

A tip of the hat to Paula Stuart-Warren for alerting us to a new twice-yearly journal from the University of Nebraska Press. The editors and editorial board (slightly different lists) are all academics but seem open to "nonscholars" as well. Here's their opening elevator pitch:

"The Middle West Review is an interdisciplinary journal about the American Midwest and the only publication dedicated exclusively to the study of the Midwest as a region. It provides a forum for scholars and nonscholars alike to explore the contested meanings of midwestern identity, history, geography, society, culture, and politics. What states belong within the Midwest? Is the Midwest inherently rural? Are Chicago and Pacific Junction, Iowa, part of the same region? If so, what links them? What traditions or features define the Midwest? Does the Midwest have a particular economic identity? Is the Midwest 'queer'? How does the Midwest’s racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity square with its popular perception as a homogenous space? Is the Midwest 'distinctive'? If so, why do Americans often conceive of it as a 'normative' site, one divorced from the historical intrigue and conflict of the South and the West?"

The last link above is both blog and website. The table of contents for the Fall 2014 issue is here.

Whether you choose to spend $40 for two issues a year or not, be sure to check out the working bibliography of recent "Midwestern Histories and Studies" from editor-in-chief Paul Mokrzycki  -- 39 so far (all but one published in the last 25 years), including two of my all-time favorites, William Cronon's Nature's Metropolis and Richard White's The Middle Ground -- and several more that I need to become acquainted with!

Compared to other regions, this is not a big bookshelf.



Harold Henderson, "Middle West Review!," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 22 September 2014 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : viewed [date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]