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Midwest Futures

Midwest Futures

by Phil Christman

Belt Publishing ·2020 ·154 pages ·Essays
Maybe Someday
Maybe Someday
I Index
28/99
Bottom of the Pile

21/99

Critics

Maybe Someday

36/99

Readers

n/a

Scholars

27/99

Rating

15/99

Volume

42/99

Rating

29/99

Volume

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About This Book

A virtuoso book-length essay on Midwestern identity and the future of the region. Named a Commonweal Notable Book of 2020, a finalist for a Midwest Independent Book award, and winner of the Independent Publisher Awards' 2020 Bronze Medal for Great Lakes Nonfiction. The Is it middle? Or is it Western? As Phil Christman writes in this idiosyncratic, celebrated book, these and other ambiguities might well be the region's defining characteristic. Deftly combining history, criticism, and memoir, Christman breaks his exploration of Midwestern identity, past and present, into a suite of thirty-six brief, interconnected essays. Ranging across material questions of religion, race, class, climate, and Midwestern myth making, the result is a sometimes sardonic, often uproarious, and consistently thought-provoking look at a misunderstood place and the people who call it home. For anyone who has ever wondered why being from the Midwest is synonymous with "normalcy," even when that's obviously not the case.


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Reviews

"You could describe the form as disparate things in similar containers that together create a larger whole, which is pretty close to the way Christman describes his fellow Midwesterners."

Megan Marz· The Washington Post Read review ↗ Near the Top

"Christman is snarky, sarcastic, and undeniably funny, providing quips and facts I'd love to use the next time I argue with my family members about why they can't vote for Donald Trump again ..."

Grace Ebert· The Chicago Review of Books Read review ↗ Near the Top

"A provocative analysis."

Kirkus Read review ↗ Near the Top

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