"The Heartland: An American History" by Kristin Hoganson

When Kristin Hoganson came from the East to the Midwest 25 years ago to teach at the University of Illinois, she realized she had entered the heartland, that safe sanctuary that lies between the American coasts. But was it? Her book, The Heartland: An American History, delves into heartland characteristics that have portrayed the rural communities of the Midwest as local, insular, isolationist – “the ultimate national safe space, walled off from the rest of the world."

What Hoganson found in her research was that all this heartland talk is a myth.

The region has been globally connected – not cut off from the rest of the world as the myth would have it. Rather than isolationist, the area adopted agricultural practices from Europe and around the world. 

Thanks to the efforts of agricultural programs and extension offices of the land-grant universities, the roots of Midwestern prosperity could be traced to the far corners of the world, the author noted.

Most farmers looked to Europe—England and Germany, especially, for techniques, tools, and information to use in the field.

Hoganson began her research for The Heartland in central Illinois, looking into the Champaign-Urbana area where the U of I is located. You have the displacement of the Kickapoo people, native Americans who had a history of moving about the country. When settlers arrived, however, that movement was dictated, pushing Kickapoo families further west, and later occupying territory on the border between the United States and Mexico 

There’s also history on hogs. Midwestern farmers sought out different breeds to find the most productive source of pork they could. The soybean fields that now blanket the state, sharing space with the many rows of corn resulted when soy was found to be “a profitable ration” for hogs.

Unlike vast areas of the western U.S. that face arid conditions, many Illinois farmers faced a different problem: fields were underwater much of the year. “Flatville arose from the muck,” stated Hoganson, pointing to a dramatic solution, the placing of underground tiles to accelerate water runoff.

Referring to the Midwest as “flyover country” is simply denigrating an area from on high, said Hoganson, adding that “the U.S. heartland is the overlooked part of the country.” Most Americans don’t understand the big middle of the country, even some of the people who live there, she said.