Musket Before the Ax: Howells and Ohio

Musket Before the Ax: Howells and Ohio

by | Nov 24, 2019

Stories of Ohio by William Dean Howells. Belt Publishing, 2019. Paperback, 256 pages, $14.95. Reviewed by Jacob A. Bruggeman The year 1860 was a predictably good one for William Dean Howells, an up-and-coming man of letters from Ohio. In the four years prior, Howells...
Passing through the Gathering Dusk

Passing through the Gathering Dusk

by | Nov 24, 2019

Winesburg, Ohio at 100 By James E. Person Jr. Winesburg, Ohio: A Group of Tales of Ohio Small Town Life by Sherwood Anderson. W. W. Norton & Company, [1919] 1995. Paperback, 256 pages, $12.64. The life of reality is confused, disorderly, almost always without...
What Makes the Midwest Midwestern?

What Makes the Midwest Midwestern?

by | May 26, 2019

Finding a New Midwestern History edited by Jon K. Lauck, Gleaves Whitney, and Joseph Hogan. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2018. Hardcover, 365 pp. $55. Reviewed by Jonathan Kasparek The field of Midwestern history is in the midst of an exciting renaissance as...
The Center Holds

The Center Holds

by | Mar 31, 2019

The Midwestern Moment: The Forgotten World of Early Twentieth Century Midwestern Regionalism, 1880–1940 Edited by Jon K. Lauck. Hastings College Press, 2017. Hardcover, 306 pages, $40. Reviewed by Nicole M. King “The Corn Belt,” “America’s Breadbasket,” “The...
Writing from the Edge of the Middle

Writing from the Edge of the Middle

by | Mar 3, 2019

Interior States: Essays by Meghan O’Gieblyn. Anchor, 2018. Paperback, 240 pages, $16. Reviewed by Veery Huleatt I learned to see myself as an anachronism when I was about nine, when I caught sight of my reflection overlaid on the posters of beautiful women advertising...