The American Midwest

Although the essence of a place can never be definitively captured—even in a work stretching to almost two thousand pages—this ambitious publication productively engages the question.Vol. 37, No. 2

~South Dakota History

You'll close this new book and start spouting fascinating—and even useful—facts to your friends long before you realize that.

~Trevor Meers, Midwest Living

This book is an essential text for all Midwestern libraries. . . . Middle-American people, landscapes, and culture all stand to benefit from this weighty work of scholarship, as it provides us with a holistic guide for understanding ourselves, our neighbors, our regional landscape, and our place on the national stage. Summer 2007

~Ohioana Quarterly

[A] welcome and instructive volume, which treats the vernacular Midwest . . . as a coherent and unified region. Vol. 104, September 2008

~Indiana Magazine of History

Any way you look at it, The American Midwest: An Interpretive Encyclopedia is impressive.

~Minnesota History

A collection of provocative readings that may inspire further research.

~Choice

Spanning 1,890 pages and weighing in at 8 pounds, the encyclopedia is a lot like its subject: big, brawny, hardworking, plainspoken, and yes, far more interesting and outrageous than you ever imagined. May 5, 2007

~Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

At 1,800 oversized pages, brimming with hundreds of lively essays on every imaginable Midwestern subject, it's an autodidact's delight, and a great addition to any serious reader's library. December 1, 2007

~Northern Ohio Live

This ambitious volume, the culmination of nearly ten years of effort by hundreds of scholars . . . [presents] a comprehensive and scholarly treatment of its subject while at the same time challenging the reader's expectations of what an encyclopedia should be.Spring 2008, Vol. 115

~Ohio History

Best suited for browsing or targeted searches via the excellent index, this essential encyclopedia is suitable for patrons of all public and academic libraries.

~Julienne L. Wood, American Reference Books Annual Vol. 39

Unlike some state and regional encyclopedias, which seem to inundate the reader with facts and figures but never really relay a feel for their subject, this one was clearly created with the aim of endowing the reader with a sense of the American Midwest and its people. . . . This encyclopedia also gets kudos for one of the most comprehensive sections on labor- and class-related issues that it has been my pleasure to read . . .Spring/Summer 2009

~Western Folklore

Best suited for browsing or targeting searches via the excellent index, this essential encyclopedia is suitable for patrons of all public and academic libraries.2008

~Julienne L. Wood, American Reference Books Annual Vol. 39

The American Midwest was a tremendous undertaking, and the final product is a well-balanced and extremely useful volume for scholars, researchers, and casual readers interested in learning more about all aspects of midwestern geography, history, and culture. Spring 2008, Vol. 34, No. 1

~Michigan Historical Review

What geography can give all Middle Westerners along with the fresh water and topsoil, if they let it, is awe for an Edenic continent stretching forever in all directions. Makes you religious. Takes your breath away.

~Kurt Vonnegut

No matter what I write I begin there.

~Toni Morrison