Why Place Matters: Geography, Identity, and Civic Life in Modern America ed. by Wilfred M. McClay and Ted V. McAllister

smartly reviews the history and culture of this neglected region. It helps to fi ll a historiographical gap and gives scholars a starting point for future research. It is also one of the best written and most comprehensive edited works that this reviewer has read. Anyone who studies, or cares about, this region will want to have a copy on his or her bookshelf. Jeff Bremer iowa state university Ames, Iowa