Review

Abstract

Book Reviews 147 Kenneth H. Wheeler. Cultivating Regionalism: Higher Education and the Making of the American Midwest. DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 2011. Pp. 156. Bibliography. Index. Notes. Cloth, $38.00. In Cultivating Regionalism, Kenneth Wheeler links the development of the Midwest as a distinct region to the founding of colleges. Rejecting the view that the antebellum Midwest was merely an extension of northern or southern culture, he argues that the region had its own identity rooted in religious diversity, egalitarianism, and the culture of usefulness. All three of these elements influenced the region’s higher education. The religious diversity in the Midwest led to a proliferation of denominational colleges, many more than in either the North or the South. These colleges offered instruction to students from a broad range of socioeconomic backgrounds and, in opposition to contemporary gender norms, to women as well. Coeducation, however, was just one element in the region’s willingness to experiment. Wheeler found that religious diversity fostered a spirit of open debate at the colleges. He also argues that midwestern egalitarianism influenced the curriculum of higher education, especially in the preference for manual labor over gymnastics or military drill. Students at colleges like Oberlin spent four hours a day chopping trees, building roads, or working on a farm. Unlike the South where slavery degraded manual work, midwesterners embraced the dignity of labor. Cultivating Regionalism is an important reminder that midwestern culture has not been adequately studied. Wheeler offers a fascinating glimpse into the self-conscious construction of a regional identity distinct from New England when he quotes a student who announced, “I have got so sick of yankies [sic] that I don’t want to see one, although my ancestors sprung from that noble race. I boast myself in being a true blooded Buckeye” (p. 62). Hopefully, fascinating comments like this will encourage further study of the formation and promotion of midwestern identity in the press, pulpit, lyceum, and colleges. This work raises many intriguing questions: Did midwesterners contest regional identity? In particular, did identity vary depending upon where migrants to the region came from? How significant was slavery in the formation of a distinct regional identity? As Wheeler distinguishes the Midwest from other sections of the country, however, his comparisons are at times overdrawn. The presentation of New England’s culture as elitist, for instance, certainly accords with the Boston Brahmins, but antebellum New England also possessed a vibrant dissenting tradition that contested the region’s 148 The Michigan Historical Review identity. In addition, this emphasis on New England gentility leads Wheeler to mischaracterize women’s education. He posits that a neat divide existed between the urban sophistication of female academies that emphasized manners and elegance and the rural practicality of coeducational institutions that taught women to be useful. The female academies founded by Emma Willard and Catharine Beecher, however, represent a powerful rejection of the “finishing-school” model in favor of a rigorous academic curriculum that would train women to contribute to the improvement of their society. Despite these concerns, Cultivating Regionalism makes an important contribution to the ongoing study of regionalism in American culture. Melissa Ladd Teed Saginaw Valley State University ...