The Liberal Heartland

Jon K. Lauck is the founding president of the Midwestern History Association, editor in chief of the Middle West Review, and adjunct professor of political science at the University of South Dakota. Catherine McNicol Stock is the Barbara Zaccheo Kohn '72 Professor of History at Connecticut College.

"Catherine McNicol Stock and Jon Lauck have brought together a collection of essays that adds nuance and depth to the historical discussion of Midwestern politics—where they have been, and where they are going. The region's political tradition is far more layered and complicated than most people realize. Anyone who wants to understand Midwestern politics, or who thinks they already do, should read this engaging and eye-opening set of essays."-Pamela Riney-Kehrberg, author of When a Dream Dies: Iowa, Agriculture, and the Farm Crisis of the 1980s"Readers will be rewarded with a deeper understanding of a region that Americans ignore at their own peril. The editors and authors of these essays show that progressive and left-leaning politics in the Midwest remain vital to the American nation, despite dominant-and simplistic-red state/blue state narratives. Broadening the political history of the Midwest to include more voices and perspectives, The Liberal Heartland constitutes a bold declaration that the Midwest remains the true battleground region of American politics."-Joe Anderson, author of Industrializing the Corn Belt: Agriculture, Technology, and Environment, 1945-1972 "Here is a fascinating look at the politics of the great American Midwest, which is too often ignored while other regions are covered more extensively. You will come away from this fine anthology with new perspectives on a wide variety of topics that explain the Midwest's significant role in shaping our modern politics."-Larry J. Sabato, coeditor of A Return to Normalcy? The 2020 Election That (Almost) Broke America