American Geographical Society

The Middle West: Its Meaning in American Culture by James R. ShortridgeReview by: Wilbur ZelinskyGeographical Review, Vol. 80, No. 3 (Jul., 1990), pp. 323-325Published by: American Geographical SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/215312 .

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GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEWS GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEWS

international spatial division of labor. Despite these theoretical weaknesses, "Wrecking a Region" provides a comprehensive empirical investigation of the inherent complexities of formulating and implementing regional-devel- opment policies in Great Britain.-ANN M. OBERHAUSER

THE MIDDLE WEST: Its Meaning in American Culture.* By JAMES R. SHORT- RIDGE. xiv and 202 pp.; maps, diagrs., ills., bibliog., index. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1989. $25.00. ISBN 0-7006-0388-3.

Let me begin with the compliments. In intellectual terms, "The Middle West" by James R. Shortridge is the most noteworthy treatment of the American Middle West produced to date by a geographer or, to the best of my knowl- edge, by any other breed of scholar. Moreover, this book is required reading not only for persons with a certain regional predisposition but also for anyone wrestling with the deeper mysteries of American culture as a whole.

As the subtitle suggests, the book is not a standard regional text. But this same subtitle does not fully reveal the author's intentions. "This book is a historical probe into the 'idea' [emphasis added] of the Middle West. It ex- plores the personality and image of the region, including what the label Middle West originally meant to Americans and how this meaning has changed over time." The central strength of the book is indeed the fact that it is as nearly definitive an account as one could desire of the Middle West as image or concept, as a territory of uncertain limits and changeable core. On the other hand, this single-minded approach is also its most serious shortcoming. But before dwelling on what else this opus could or should have accomplished, I must describe the achievement at hand.

After an introductory chapter that sets forth the difficulties and challenges of getting a firm grip on the Middle West as a place or its cultural identity, Shortridge presents his research on the evolution of the regional name as reconstructed principally from contemporary periodical literature. The label Middle West apparently was first adopted in the 1880s and 1890s for a Kansas- Nebraska core area as a latitudinal concept, the region lying between the Old Northwest and Old Southwest and not, as is so generally supposed, as a longitudinally defined entity separating East from West. But what is most crucial, in Shortridge's mind, is the early and persistent linkage of the regional term with the theme of pastoralism and its constellation of social and land- scape values.

In the remainder of this slim volume Shortridge examines what is implied by the durable coupling of a variable north-central section of the United States with an idealized image of bucolic virtue, of sturdy, thriving agrarians inhabiting a blissful Middle Landscape. Shortridge performs this task by exploiting a variety of sources, including again magazine and newspaper

international spatial division of labor. Despite these theoretical weaknesses, "Wrecking a Region" provides a comprehensive empirical investigation of the inherent complexities of formulating and implementing regional-devel- opment policies in Great Britain.-ANN M. OBERHAUSER

THE MIDDLE WEST: Its Meaning in American Culture.* By JAMES R. SHORT- RIDGE. xiv and 202 pp.; maps, diagrs., ills., bibliog., index. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1989. $25.00. ISBN 0-7006-0388-3.

Let me begin with the compliments. In intellectual terms, "The Middle West" by James R. Shortridge is the most noteworthy treatment of the American Middle West produced to date by a geographer or, to the best of my knowl- edge, by any other breed of scholar. Moreover, this book is required reading not only for persons with a certain regional predisposition but also for anyone wrestling with the deeper mysteries of American culture as a whole.

As the subtitle suggests, the book is not a standard regional text. But this same subtitle does not fully reveal the author's intentions. "This book is a historical probe into the 'idea' [emphasis added] of the Middle West. It ex- plores the personality and image of the region, including what the label Middle West originally meant to Americans and how this meaning has changed over time." The central strength of the book is indeed the fact that it is as nearly definitive an account as one could desire of the Middle West as image or concept, as a territory of uncertain limits and changeable core. On the other hand, this single-minded approach is also its most serious shortcoming. But before dwelling on what else this opus could or should have accomplished, I must describe the achievement at hand.

After an introductory chapter that sets forth the difficulties and challenges of getting a firm grip on the Middle West as a place or its cultural identity, Shortridge presents his research on the evolution of the regional name as reconstructed principally from contemporary periodical literature. The label Middle West apparently was first adopted in the 1880s and 1890s for a Kansas- Nebraska core area as a latitudinal concept, the region lying between the Old Northwest and Old Southwest and not, as is so generally supposed, as a longitudinally defined entity separating East from West. But what is most crucial, in Shortridge's mind, is the early and persistent linkage of the regional term with the theme of pastoralism and its constellation of social and land- scape values.

In the remainder of this slim volume Shortridge examines what is implied by the durable coupling of a variable north-central section of the United States with an idealized image of bucolic virtue, of sturdy, thriving agrarians inhabiting a blissful Middle Landscape. Shortridge performs this task by exploiting a variety of sources, including again magazine and newspaper

* This book received the J. B. Jackson Prize in 1990 from the Association of American Geographers. * This book received the J. B. Jackson Prize in 1990 from the Association of American Geographers.

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THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

accounts and also, in admirable fashion, the works of some influential in- terpreters of the scene, figures such as L. Frank Baum, Thomas Hart Benton, Willa Cather, Walt Disney, Sinclair Lewis, Gene Stratton Porter, James Whit- comb Riley, Mari Sandoz, Booth Tarkington, and Grant Wood, along with some telling cartoons and photographs. Shortridge also makes good use of the questionnaires that he administered to college classes throughout the country, in which mental maps of the region were elicited as well as a roster of key attributes.

The results of his historical investigation are rather surprising. Because of the need to retain the connection between region and pastoral imagery, the Middle West has undergone "an unprecedented series of relocations ... from central plains to the whole upper Mississippi Valley and then back again to the plains." Omitting some of the intriguing secondary details of the story, his basic explanation for such a floating geography would seem to be that intensive urbanization and industrialization, especially after 1900, in Ohio, Michigan, and the rest of the East North Central bloc of states have engendered a deep chasm between image and reality. "In order to preserve the purity of an image, an entire region has been relocated."

I have nothing but cheers for the way in which Shortridge has gathered, marshaled, and argued in lucid prose his evidence concerning the peculiar geographical career of the Middle West, although there is more redundancy in the text than one would expect in such a slender book. The most valuable contribution in this publication is an original, seminal idea that will certainly bear further inquiry: "The role of regional labels as depositories for various national values is largely unrecognized ... but may in fact be critical to the continued existence of these labels in modern societies." Thus the East has been identified with technological prowess, the West with traditional Amer- ican youthful vigor and freedom, the Middle West with pastoral vision. Associated with this idea is the three-stage model of regional reputation first postulated by J. B. Jackson, the progression from golden age through neglect toward restoration. The process has already played out handsomely in New England and also, as Shortridge suggests, may be developing in a Middle West that seems to be winning its way back into national affection and celebration.

The one fault that troubles me in Shortridge's encounter with his native region is hardly a small one. Any reader unacquainted with the Middle West might very well come away from this book with the conviction that it is only a creature of the imagination, nothing more than a figment of the collective American psyche. Whether or not that was Shortridge's intention, it is hard to draw any other inference from his presentation. In any event, I beg to differ. Cultural regions are artifacts crafted by humankind, as are all other regions, and unquestionably the way insiders and outsiders perceive them is an important aspect of their existence. But there is much more to them.

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GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEWS GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEWS

The Middle West is a genuine culture region with an objective actuality quite apart from the ways it is sensed by residents or observers. The evidence to support this assertion is too bountiful for the limited space available in this review. But Shortridge tells little about this actuality-the varied ethnic and religious origins of the settlers of the Middle West, their demography or politics, or their interactions with a remarkable, generous habitat; and any discussion of the region's economy is exceedingly brief and superficial. Only in Chapter 6, a state-by-state description of the Middle Westernness of the twelve constituent chunks of the region, does Shortridge get anywhere close to the nonperceptual geographical facts, but even then he shies away from the larger issue of the Middle West's reality.

An analogy would be helpful here, one with the American South, a region whose reality no skeptic would dare challenge. Like the Middle West, the South has fuzzy, perhaps fluctuating margins: it lacks a stable core or commanding center; its founders entered by varied routes from two distant continents to create a set of contrasting subregions; and most significantly much of the South has become urbanized without losing its essential South- erness. And this large, changing region with all its internal diversity has no reluctance in revealing its psychological connectedness. If some scholar were to emulate Shortridge by producing a study of the South as a perceptual construct-a delightful prospect-the resultant findings and questions would resemble most of those in the present volume.

The point at which I suspect Shortridge went astray was his uncritical acceptance of the myth that Middle West equals pastoral Middle Landscape and nothing else. The real Middle West consists of farms, small towns, and large cities, all sharing some common qualities. As a native Chicagoan, I state with some feeling the belief that the metropolis partakes of a certain Middle Westernness along with its regional hinterland, that there is something in the mindset of Chicagoans alien to residents of Atlanta, Boston, Seattle, or Los Angeles, but not at all unfamiliar to the citizens of Kansas City or Milwaukee. Although no one has as yet explored the matter, I am confident that the cultural geographies of Omaha, Madison, Indianapolis, and Des Moines bear familial resemblance to traits that are distinct from those found in Hartford, Wilmington, Baton Rouge, or Modesto. In conclusion, I welcome this rich, fresh, and valuable study, a major advance toward a still unrealized achieve- ment: a full, rounded treatment of the Middle West's meaning in American culture.-WILBUR ZELINSKY

THE AMERICAN BACKWOODS FRONTIER: An Ethnic and Ecological In- terpretation. By TERRY G. JORDAN and MATTI KAUPS. xvi and 342 pp.; maps, diagrs., ills., bibliog., index. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989. $36.00. ISBN 0-8018-3686-7.

The Middle West is a genuine culture region with an objective actuality quite apart from the ways it is sensed by residents or observers. The evidence to support this assertion is too bountiful for the limited space available in this review. But Shortridge tells little about this actuality-the varied ethnic and religious origins of the settlers of the Middle West, their demography or politics, or their interactions with a remarkable, generous habitat; and any discussion of the region's economy is exceedingly brief and superficial. Only in Chapter 6, a state-by-state description of the Middle Westernness of the twelve constituent chunks of the region, does Shortridge get anywhere close to the nonperceptual geographical facts, but even then he shies away from the larger issue of the Middle West's reality.

An analogy would be helpful here, one with the American South, a region whose reality no skeptic would dare challenge. Like the Middle West, the South has fuzzy, perhaps fluctuating margins: it lacks a stable core or commanding center; its founders entered by varied routes from two distant continents to create a set of contrasting subregions; and most significantly much of the South has become urbanized without losing its essential South- erness. And this large, changing region with all its internal diversity has no reluctance in revealing its psychological connectedness. If some scholar were to emulate Shortridge by producing a study of the South as a perceptual construct-a delightful prospect-the resultant findings and questions would resemble most of those in the present volume.

The point at which I suspect Shortridge went astray was his uncritical acceptance of the myth that Middle West equals pastoral Middle Landscape and nothing else. The real Middle West consists of farms, small towns, and large cities, all sharing some common qualities. As a native Chicagoan, I state with some feeling the belief that the metropolis partakes of a certain Middle Westernness along with its regional hinterland, that there is something in the mindset of Chicagoans alien to residents of Atlanta, Boston, Seattle, or Los Angeles, but not at all unfamiliar to the citizens of Kansas City or Milwaukee. Although no one has as yet explored the matter, I am confident that the cultural geographies of Omaha, Madison, Indianapolis, and Des Moines bear familial resemblance to traits that are distinct from those found in Hartford, Wilmington, Baton Rouge, or Modesto. In conclusion, I welcome this rich, fresh, and valuable study, a major advance toward a still unrealized achieve- ment: a full, rounded treatment of the Middle West's meaning in American culture.-WILBUR ZELINSKY

THE AMERICAN BACKWOODS FRONTIER: An Ethnic and Ecological In- terpretation. By TERRY G. JORDAN and MATTI KAUPS. xvi and 342 pp.; maps, diagrs., ills., bibliog., index. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989. $36.00. ISBN 0-8018-3686-7.

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