Reinventing the Rustic Life

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Wuthnow
Keyword(s):  
Middle America ◽  
Wild West ◽  
Middle West

This chapter examines how rustic life was reinvented in the Middle West. In middle America, hicks, hillbillies, and hayseeds drove down the cultural barometer. They spoke in a nasal dialect and perpetuated peculiar locutions, like “crick” and “warsh.” The picture was almost a mirror opposite of the Jeffersonian ideal that saw agrarian life as the taproot of civilization. The heartland was a national embarrassment. Rustics were simpleminded, ignorant, usually boring, and sometimes downright comical. The chapter shows how, between the 1940s and 1960s, heartland residents gained exposure to newer and more positive interpretations of the rustic life. It also considers shifting perceptions of the Wild West in the 1880s by looking at the stories of two Nebraskans: William F. Cody and Polly Spence. Finally, it suggests that the monetary connotation of landownership encourages residents to focus more on the landscape in conjunction with rustic life.

Recovering from the Great Depression

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Wuthnow
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Great Depression ◽  
Dust Storms ◽  
World War ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
The Great Depression ◽  
Middle America ◽  
Middle West ◽  
Smith County

This chapter examines how the Middle West recovered from the ill effects of the Great Depression. The Great Depression was something Americans hoped they would never experience again. In the rural Midwest, foreclosures and sheriff's auctions were common. The worst drought years devastated the land. Dust storms blew with such intensity that crops failed and machinery broke down. World War II sparked the economy, revived agriculture, and coincided with better weather. However, the war took millions of men and women away from their families, necessitated mandatory rationing, and drove up prices. When it was over, rural communities faced continuing challenges. The chapter considers the case of Smith Center, Kansas, to illustrate the challenges rural communities faced as they overcame the setbacks of the Great Depression and prepared for the era ahead. Recovery from the Great Depression varied across middle America, but many of the dynamics evident in Smith County occurred elsewhere.

Education in Middle America

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Wuthnow
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
Boards Of Education ◽  
Public High Schools ◽  
World War ◽  
Public Funds ◽  
Middle America ◽  
Middle West ◽  
Technological Improvements

This chapter focuses on education in middle America. Education fitting the needs and aspirations of its citizens was an important aspect of life in heartland states from the start. Country schools, private academies, public high schools, and colleges were founded in such numbers during the first few decades of the twentieth century that the region came to be known as the “education belt.” After World War II, state and county boards of education launched a massive campaign to improve and consolidate public schools. Officials promoted education, technological improvements, and research as means of advancing their communities and the region. Colleges and universities throughout the Middle West expanded. The chapter considers issues relating to education in the Middle West, including educational attainment, public funds for education, migration, literacy, racism, the quality of rural education, and inequality between wealthier and poorer school districts.

Remaking the Heartland

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Wuthnow
Keyword(s):  
Great Depression ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Small Towns ◽  
Rapid Expansion ◽  
Social Transformations ◽  
The Great Depression ◽  
Objective Observer ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
Changing Times ◽  
Middle West

For many Americans, the Middle West is a vast unknown. This book sets out to rectify this. It shows how the region has undergone extraordinary social transformations over the past half-century and proven itself surprisingly resilient in the face of such hardships as the Great Depression and the movement of residents to other parts of the country. It examines the heartland's reinvention throughout the decades and traces the social and economic factors that have helped it to survive and prosper. The book points to the critical strength of the region's social institutions established between 1870 and 1950—the market towns, farmsteads, one-room schoolhouses, townships, rural cooperatives, and manufacturing centers that have adapted with the changing times. It focuses on farmers' struggles to recover from the Great Depression well into the 1950s, the cultural redefinition and modernization of the region's image that occurred during the 1950s and 1960s, the growth of secondary and higher education, the decline of small towns, the redeployment of agribusiness, and the rapid expansion of edge cities. Drawing arguments from extensive interviews and evidence from the towns and counties of the Midwest, the book provides a unique perspective as both an objective observer and someone who grew up there. It offers an accessible look at the humble yet strong foundations that have allowed the region to endure undiminished.

Decentralized Exchanges: The 'Wild West' of Cryptocurrency Trading

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angelo Aspris ◽  
Sean Foley ◽  
Jiri Svec ◽  
Leqi Wang
Keyword(s):  
Wild West
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