Midwest Futures

by Phil Christman

What does the future hold for the Midwest? A vast stretch of fertile farmland bordering one of the largest concentrations of fresh water in the world, the Midwestern US seems ideally situated for the coming challenges of climate change. But it also sits at the epicenter of a massive economic collapse that many of its citizens are still struggling to overcome. The question of what the Midwest is (and what it will become) is nothing new. As Phil Christman writes in this idiosyncratic new book, ambiguity might be the region's defining characteristic. Taking a cue from Jefferson’s grid, the famous rectangular survey of the Old Northwest Territory that turned everything from Ohio to Wisconsin into square-mile lots, Christman breaks his exploration of Midwestern identity, past and present, into 36 brief, interconnected essays. The result is a sometimes sardonic, often uproarious, and consistently thought-provoking look at a misunderstood place and the people who call it home.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Essays, Sociology, Geography, Cultural, Politics

149 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 7, 2020

Reviews

[Nathan Shuherk · Rating 5 out of 5]

The questions of the Midwest - how did it come to be, what has it been as what is it becoming, and why is it so easy to describe with generalities but never with realistic specificities.
One of my favorite (possibly favorite) books of the year.
Gorgeous writing and a fascinating perspective that flow easy and are so compelling for such a quick read.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Johnny · Rating 4 out of 5]

The most Midwestern thing Christman does is shout out the Midwest's lefty independent presses in the middle of the book, naming Haymarket and half a dozen others, without mentioning Belt, the publisher of this book, but clearly meaning Belt.

This is a bit of a hidden memoir, as the book is more or less framed by Christman processing his own non-departure from a region that punished him in his childhood. At the core of this book is Christman's own alienation from and anger at the surface-level affect and politics and history of his family and by extension Midwest, and his choice to not leave either because of his deep identification with the principles embodied by the actual promise of the soil, the hummus, the roots. That identification may seem corny, but it rests upon pushing the Midwest past its role as a fund for external interests bent on extraction--which Christman could do a whole book on that I would happily read--and into a place that has plenty for all.

Less speculative-(non)-fiction than I expected and more casual history and personal essay. His anti-ideology take, which he names at one point but is sort of implied throughout, is refreshing and also feels very Midwestern. Every time he talks about boosterism I was nodding big time, because to be from a place that situates itself in the hauntology shadow of its past failed futures is to have boosterism so thoroughly baked into how you imagine civic life that it becomes the substructure of arguments all over your life. I almost wish he would have just gone full Fisher hauntology on the Midwest, but Christman is more in to acting into a better material future than that, so good on him.

[Frankie]

Hard to say if it was pretentious or I just didn’t quite understand it :)

[Reverenddave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Early in the book, Christman quotes Willa Cather, "No one who has not grown up in a little prairie town could know anything about it." As someone who did and then moved away and has watched those outside those little prairie towns struggle to understand and describe them this is unquestionably true. However, in this book Christman comes about as close as anyone has to translating that understanding.

In a series of essays, he tackles the history, tropes, social and political movements that have defined or attempted to define what it means to be Midwestern. The book is at times a little messy and discursive, indicative perhaps of the difficulties of capturing the "collocation of moods or tropes, some of them contradictory" that he (correctly in my opinion) posits make up the Midwest, which is definable more as a state of mind than a geographical region.

[Alexander Pyles · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Perhaps this is one of the gifts that family gives us: a lifelong confrontation with the fact that we will only, at best, lovingly fail the people who were counting on us most."

I wasn't expecting that snippet to be so piercing, but goodness what a microcosm of this entire book. The Midwest is a region that exemplifies this. It is a region that we attempt to do our best to, but is taken for granted and taken advantage of--manipulated.

For such a short little book, Christman packs tones of witty anecdotes, smooth prose, and cutting facts/history that will entice the reader for more of his work.

A brilliant work.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun history of what makes the Midwest the Midwest. Quick - if you zone out for a page you’ll get lost!!! Sending back this copy to you soon @isabelle

[iz · Rating 4 out of 5]

i never thought that i would become such a midwest defender after moving away for college, but this book encapsulates a lot of my complicated feelings towards the place i spent most of my childhood. it’s a really incredible look into the mythos and reality of the region, based on cultural analysis and history. i can’t co-sign every single take because there’s so much to comb through, and some sections veer too much into liberalism for my taste (though the author is a DSA member), but this was very well-written and engaging. my biggest critique is the treatment of indigeneity — there were several attempts to factor indigenous groups into the historiography, but it still felt pretty surface-level. i would love to hear from a midwestern indigenous writer about this content. all in all, worth the read if you’ve spent time in the midwest or you’re interested in deconstructing coastal stereotypes of so-called “flyover states.”

[Alexa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though there were parts dry enough to make me question whether I could finish - I do wish I was more interested in the economic history of this nation- those parts provided context for why the Midwest is the Midwest. And the rest of the book was so, so good. Occasionally funny, even. As a lifelong resident of this area of the country, I find it as easy as anyone to lapse into believing the same stereotypes and assumptions about life here: we're boring, we're uninteresting, we're too white, we don't possess enough diversity, the best of who we are is long behind us. None of that is true. And like the author, I find it both compelling and crucial to think about what direction we're headed in amid the next century's crises of climate, economy, and culture. Anyway, this made me think a lot of good thoughts.

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great account and reckoning of today's fly over states from the historical, etymological, and cultural perceptions. Built on blood, built on speculation; the Midwest gave rise to the United States we know today. Christman does not pull any punches.

[Hillary Copsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Belt Publishing consistently puts out solidly written and researched books about the Midwest.

[Sofia Partida · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was excited to read this book, thought it was a good, refreshing idea for a book, and had a hopeful attitude about it for as long as I could muster, but by the halfway point realized it's incoherent. It was pretentious, and not in a way that at least still delivers concrete ideas worth putting in the labor to understand.

The author slung academic and literary references around, refused to take clear positions that felt more specific than general virtue-signaling statements about "the state of things," and offered almost no concrete facts needed to see his complex arguments through before jumping ship and settling his quasi-claims with vague abstractions. He discusses colonialism, immigration, climate change, workers' rights, corporate greed, and the end of capitalism -- heavy hitter topics --but didn't do the research needed to leave me with any inspiration or concrete vision for the Midwest's future. This book was reductive and screams 2018. Last thing I'll say is that this book miffed me more than books usually can/do because the topics he's wrestling with are so important, especially to people who are from the Midwest, or anyone in this country who's finding it harder and harder to live a good life (i.e. possible ways forward and ideas for material improvements to the disenfranchised working class).

[Miles Foley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting reflections on the outside influences on the Midwest and the exploitation of resources and people who live here. I felt it was mired in the angsty rhetoric of liberals in the early Trump years, and a call to action items that ultimately don't solve the systemic issues brought to light.

[Nevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

In some ways, the future is a claimed thing, something we enact presently and pretend it was inevitable, retrospectively. The only way to counter act this deception is through a good understanding of history, literature, and the time to live in places we desire to forget. In many ways, this is the antithesis of the present, futurism and technology roll over us again and again to flatten us into the dirt they mine from.

You can only read so many sociological and investigative analysis before the tide of “correctness” forces you into action. Only in the moral frontier, that landscape that will never be “achieved”, “conquered”, or “settled” can we stir beyond hopes and live with the “we” we want to be.

[Abby Rubin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Christman breaks down the past, present, and future of the midwest into 36 short, interconnected essays. To write a book about the midwest, you have to first define it. The way that Christmas describes the inability to define the midwest is one of the many reasons for anyone who has ever called the midwest home to read this book. There is something consistent and inexplicable about the midwest. At one point in US history, we were the unknown frontier. Then we were the seat of manufacturing and the American dream. Now we are "flyover country" and fighting for someone to notice us. Where other writers could see a decline or a place to give up on, Christman somehow ends this book hopefully, which is great for a place that so many people call home.

[Darius Ostrowski · Rating 2 out of 5]

As someone who has spent his whole life in and around Chicago, I was interested to see this take on the American Midwest. This collection of essays from Mr. Christman range from the interesting to the thought-provoking to the not-so-interesting. The best essays addressed the history and definition of the Midwest, and how it has changed over time. I also enjoyed the unique structure of the book, as well as some of the personal stories. But the philosophical and theoretical stuff was kind of ho-hum.

[Kristy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book length essay on the history, present, and future of the Midwest with a healthy dose of personal memoir (written by a guy from Alma, MI -- a town of about 9,000 people) is a smooth, dense, and engaging read. I don't think you have to be from the nebulously defined Midwest to enjoy it since, as Christman points out, the aura of hopeful, desolate, "normal," "average," Midwestern-ness is a major trope no matter where you live. I'm from Lincoln, Nebraska, which is both the Midwest and the Great Plains. Like the author, I had a lot more appreciation and defensiveness for the region after moving away (in my case, to Austin, Texas). While he sometimes gets caught in very of-the-2022-pandemic-climate-change-political-vibe moment towards the end of the book, it is well earned (and pretty spot on). Throughout he is a master of turning a phrase and bringing in a wide variety of current and past voices. I really like his assertion that people from the Midwest default to describing their hometowns as "normal," and "just like anyplace," while people from small towns in the South or even in Canada (our Midwest to the north), get hyper specific about their local culture, traditions, and natural features. This really happens! A little quoting for your enjoyment:

A little Willa Cather (Nebraska homeland hero) to get us started:

"The only thing very noticeable about Nebraska was that it was still, all day long, Nebraska. (p. 21)"

"No one who had not grown up in a little prairie town could know anything about it. It was a kind of freemasonry. (p. 22)"

And a little Christman:

"The idea of normalcy can give safety, warmth, the smugness of a person whose plate is full. It can make us feel invulnerable, passed-over by history and its dangers.... But it can also be, even for those it is meant to cover, far more trouble than it's worth. There is something deeply unsettling to us in the idea that we have arrived; it provokes anxiety, a sense that one is not yet fit somehow...

"The Midwest seems to offer us the chance to become normal, but what this means in practice is a paranoid sense that you've missed it, were five degrees off, that your chance came to town, missed you, and jumped on a train, vowing that it will not be here again. You are shadowed by people so like you they might as well be you. Perhaps you are the imposter, the double they cannot claim.

"A person who is told that they are normal might adopt a posture of vigilant defense, both internal and external, against anything that might weaken their claim to the label. Any emotion spikey or passionate enough to disrupt the smooth surface of normality must be shunted away." (pp. 85-87)

[Sasha Price · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having grown up in the Midwest, I appreciated many of the book’s insights into the unique psychology, history, and self-image of the Midwest, especially its involvement in creating or imagining “futures” for the country as a whole.

Having worked in community building efforts in the Midwest, however, I felt that the book’s tone was far too pessimistic on the whole for me. One of the things that I love about working in the social and civic sector in the Midwest is that it generates optimism and momentum amidst the worst of circumstances. I feel like efforts to create new futures on the community level throughout the Midwest could have been highlighted much more than they were (which would have served to give back agency to people who have suffered from disinvestment and marginalization across the region, many of whom are leaders in the community-oriented efforts I am referring to). The book did progress towards a more optimistic and future-oriented vision near the end, but it was still so peppered by a typical Midwestern pessimism that I have tried to fight back against for much of my life.

That said, I enjoyed this book as an introduction for myself into the broader contemporary literature and literary criticism of the Midwest, which I hope to explore more after finishing this book! I will be thinking about the questions and challenges that this book posed for a long time to come.

[Sam Klage · Rating 5 out of 5]

Christman does a great job of intertwining the political history, economic policy choices, and social patterns of the Midwest together to pin down something that is famously hard to pin down. Midwest 'culture' is notoriously hard to describe. There is a feeling of the towns and communities throughout to be all alike, nowhere and everywhere at the same time. What does it mean when we say Midwesterners are 'normal'? Among many other things, Christman does a great job of exploring this, what it can do to people both negatively and positively, and the history behind how that came to be. He covers the history of the acquisition/theft of the land, the political and economic decisions that led to the decline of Midwest manufacturing, how David Lynch and Blue Velvet reflect the inherent duality/contradiction of Midwestern social conditions, and more in entries that are short and readable, yet very well researched and full of information, as well as personal reflections from the author that add what I found to bring compassion and emotional depth to many of the topics, particularly in the final chapter.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

So good! Very impressed with what this author has managed to do in such a few pages. Beautiful writing, tremendously important insights, so much history and literature brought into fruitful perspective by this author's wonderful research and reflections. The best kind of synthesizing of the personal and the political-economic. Highly recommended!

If you think you don't care about the Midwest, then you should really read this book for sure, because you will learn a lot, but in a really enjoyable way. If you do care about the Midwest, you will be well rewarded for engaging with this book, too. In short, if you read this, you'll be glad you did.

Last but not least, a word of praise for Belt Publishing for bringing out this kind of work. If you are not familiar with Belt, by all means check them out: https://beltpublishing.com/

[Hunter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really wasn't sure if this was going to be for me or not but ended up loving it. A socio-economic political history of the Midwest, interwoven with Christman's reflections on what it means to be Midwestern, and the past-present-future of those identities. The book is certainly written in some left-wing language, but the author presents a fantastic humility in his own thinking and ideology in the later sections. The best compliment I can give is that after reading this I'm stuck thinking in equal parts about land reform and what it means to be normal.

[Sionainn Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing. This book felt like someone successfully articulating all the banal observations I’ve made about life in the Midwest, ones which I secretly suspected might be profound, in a manner that convinced me they actually were profound. This is intelligent writing that doesn’t talk down to its reader, but gently nudges them to keep “lovingly failing” at the quest to be a better person in this critical moment in history. Anyone interested in understanding the Midwest could do no better than this book.

[Jackie Mellin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t frequently wish books were longer but in this case, I do. I learned a lot about the historical and cultural background of the Midwest and how it supports the current ideologies and stereotypes of Midwesterners today. There were several short vignettes that I would have loved to hear more about, such as how our relationship with Native Americans changed military history or our development of trains eradicated the Buffalo. Overall, super fresh and interesting.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting thoughts on what the Midwest is and the foundations of the Midwest past present and future. Enjoyed the first few rows much more than the last ones, but recent history in the Midwest is messy and presumably harder to digest.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book. It’s comprised of 6 short essays about the Midwest, and was a quick read.

Someone on book tok who I follow praises this book constantly and said it was one of the best books they read in 2021. That overhype maybe took something away for me, but I enjoyed this.

[Nan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoughtful & thought-provoking telling of the past that also sets up possible futures. Also, discovered a cool, small, Midwestern press.

[Aumaine Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sharp and nuanced history and a working definition of what we call “the Midwest,” with an eye to labor and environmental histories and futures. Brave, hopeful, compassionate, grounded, nuanced

[August Deatherage · Rating 4 out of 5]

An insightful look into Midwestern history and psychology in the framing of past futures made present.

[Ryan Turnbull · Rating 5 out of 5]

Place writing at its finest.

[Matt Beatty · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 36 sections that make up this book range from high enjoyable to revelatory. And the “notes” section provides a great list of further reading that will occupy me for some time!