Whose Midwest?

Abstract

Whose Midwest? Paul Finkelman (bio) "They're Selling postcards of the hanging,they're painting the passports brown,The beauty parlor is filled with sailors,the circus is in town… And I look out tonight From Desolation Row." Bob Dylan, 1965 Much of my scholarship has focused on race and race relations in the Midwest. Thus, I was genuinely delighted to review a book that would help explain the very complicated and contentious history of race in the Midwest and how such issues play out today. For example, I thought the authors might explore why Iowa, which jump-started Barack Obama's presidential aspirations in the 2008 caucuses, and voted for him twice for president, then twice voted for Donald Trump. Sadly, this book offers few answers or insights to such questions. One major problem with this book is its use—or failure to use—evidence, and the authors' apparent lack of understanding of basic U.S. history. They make assertions that are only partially accurate or demonstrably untrue, such as the truly weird claim that such states as Iowa, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Michigan "all enrolled more soldiers [in the Civil War] than New York or anywhere else in the East." (61) In fact, New York enrolled more than 400,000 soldiers in the War, about the same as the combined total of these four states. Pennsylvania, another eastern state, enrolled 360,000 soldiers. The authors are quite open about their strategy of skewing evidence to make their points, noting they will make their arguments "through a selective analysis" of data. (40) They are also aggressive about reading into the past what they "see" as the intentions of actors. This is not exactly the "alternative facts" of Kellyanne Conway, but it comes close. [End Page 111] I: Who Can Write About the Midwest? Throughout this book the authors tell personal stories—they call them "reflections." They seem to feel a need to establish their bona fides to write about the Midwest. Professor Halvorson grew up in Muskegon, Michigan, which establishes her Midwest-street cred. Professor Reno went to graduate school in Ann Arbor and lived in Livonia and Ypsilanti, Michigan and we assume this makes him an expert on the vast area of the Midwest. For a scholarly book, I find this odd. By their standard, the Englishman Edward Gibbon should never have written The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Robert Caro, the son of a Jewish immigrant from Poland, should not have won a Pulitzer for writing about Lyndon Johnson of Texas, and David Blight, a White man from Flint, Michigan, should not have won the Pulitzer for a book about Frederick Douglass, a Black man from Maryland. But, since the authors think that one must be connected to the Midwest to understand it, I suppose I should establish my street cred. I did my Ph.D. in Chicago, lived in South Shore and Hyde Park, and delivered pizzas and once served as an election judge on the south side. I later taught at Chicago-Kent Law School, living in downtown Chicago. I currently hold a chair at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota. I have taught at Hamline University in St. Paul, Cleveland State University, University of Akron, and Washington University in St. Louis. I edit a book series on the Midwest at Ohio University Press, and I have been a consultant to historic homes in both St. Louis and in Muscatine, Iowa. I have published many articles and book chapters on slavery and civil rights, Native American history, and ethnic and religious persecution in the Midwest. I am the co-editor of A History of Michigan Law, which won a "best book" prize from the Michigan Historical Society and was named a notable Michigan book by the Library of Michigan. And I once got fogged in for two days after lecturing at Michigan Tech, on the Upper Peninsula. So much for my bona fides. II: Defining the Midwest This book is supposed to be about "the Midwest," but we are quickly told it is "not a book about the Midwest, the place, or Midwesterners." Rather it is about something called "place making." (11) The...