Midwest Futures (Hardcover)

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Midwest Futures (Hardcover)

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In "Midwest Futures,"  Michigan author Christman challenges what you thought you knew about the Midwest, from the economics of railroads, Native American genocide, "racial quarantines," and whether these states are really any better positioned  to ride out climate change disruption. The title refers  to where the nebulous  "Midwest" is  headed, and also to the Chicago Board of Trade whose futures exchange serves as an example for the many "innovations" in these states that have both helped, and then gone on to harm the same people. (The small farmers who first saw their grain prices stabilized by the futures market, later went on to lose their farms to the agribusinesses that could  exploit it better.) The author shows us in 36 short interlocking essays that speculators, not settlers have always controlled the Midwest's fortunes: he wants us to summon up the collective will to change that.

— From Carla's Picks (2013-2020)

A virtuoso book about 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 Midwest: Is it middle? Or is it Western? As Phil Christman writes in this idiosyncratic, critically acclaimed essay collection, 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.

As James Fallows of The Atlantic noted, it's "A combination of history, memoir, reportage, and lit-crit that taught me a lot about a region I've reported on.... Check it out."

For anyone who has ever wondered why being from the Midwest is synonymous with "normalcy," even when nothing could be further from the truth.

A former substitute teacher, shelter worker, and home health aide, Phil Christman currently lectures in the English department at University of Michigan. His work has appeared in The Hedgehog Review, Commonweal, The Christian Century, The Outline, and other places. He holds an MFA from the University of South Carolina-Columbia. He is the editor of the Michigan Review of Prisoner Creative Writing, a journal sponsored by the University of Michigan's Prison Creative Arts Project. He lives in Ann Arbor, MI.
Product Details ISBN: 9781948742610
ISBN-10: 1948742616
Publisher: Belt Publishing
Publication Date: April 7th, 2020
Pages: 150
Language: English