A Place Called Home

by Davies, Richard O.

• ISBN13: 9780873514514
• ISBN10: 0873514513
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-03-01
• Publisher: Borealis Books

Summary

The Midwestern small town has long held an iconic place in American culture -- from the imaginings of Sinclair Lewis's 'Main Street' and Sherwood Anderson's 'Winesburg, Ohio' to Garrison Keillor's 'Lake Wobegon'. But the reality is much more complex, as the small town has been a study in transition from its very inception. In A PLACE CALLED HOME, the editors offer the first comprehensive examination of the Midwestern small town and its evolving nature from the 1800s to the present. This rich collection, gleaned from the best writings of historians, novelists, social scientists, poets, and journalists, features not only such well-known authors as Sherwood Anderson, Carol Bly, Willa Cather, Hamlin Garland, Langston Hughes, Garrison Keillor, William Kloefkorn, Sinclair Lewis, Susan Allen Toth, and Mark Twain but also many lesser known and exceptionally talented writers. Five chronological sections trace the founding, growth, and decline of the Midwestern town, and introductory comments illuminate its ever-changing face. The result is a wide-ranging collection of writings on the community at the heart of America.

Table of Contents

Introduction Small Towns, Of Thee We Sing	3	(10)
Part I: The Formative Years, 1790--1900	13	(70)
``The Economic Base'' from The Urban Frontier	18	(6)
Richard C. Wade
``It Answers Well for a Village'' from Sugar Creek	24	(10)
John Mack Faragher
selections from The Autobiography of Mark Twain	34	(6)
Mark Twain
``A Private Lesson from a Bulldog'' from The Hoosier School-Master	40	(7)
Edward Eggleston
``Railroad Towns'' from Plains Country Towns	47	(8)
John C. Hudson
``A 'Good Fellow's' Wife'' from Main-Travelled Roads	55	(28)
Hamlin Garland
Part II: Main Street Ascendant, 1890--1930	83	(130)
``Belonging to the Community'' from Main Street on the Middle Border	86	(30)
Lewis E. Atherton
``The Hired Girls'' from My Antonia	116	(8)
Willa Cather
selections from The Poetry of Vachel Lindsay	124	(7)
Vachel Lindsay
``The Budding of Art'' from The Age of Indiscretion	131	(14)
Clyde Brion Davis
``Storm'' from Not Without Laughter	145	(8)
Langston Hughes
excerpt from Main Street	153	(13)
Sinclair Lewis
selections from Spoon River Anthology	166	(5)
Edgar Lee Masters
excerpt from Poor White	171	(9)
Sherwood Anderson
``The Resurrection'' from Midland Magazine	180	(5)
Ruth Suckow
excerpt from A Peculiar Treasure	185	(14)
Edna Ferber
``Inventions Re-making Leisure'' from Middletown	199	(14)
Robert S. Lynd
Helen Merrell Lynd
Part III: Depression, War, and Resurgence, 1930--60	213	(88)
``Growing Up in Clear Lake,'' personal reminiscence	217	(15)
Alan R. Woolworth
``Compromise and Its Limits'' from Main Street in Crisis	232	(16)
Catherine McNicol Stock
poems from various collections	248	(12)
William Kloefkorn
``The Last Picture Show'' from Main Street Blues	260	(26)
Richard O. Davies
``Nothing Happened'' from Blooming	286	(15)
Susan Allen Toth
Part IV: Crisis on Main Street, 1960--90	301	(74)
selections from Alliance, Illinois	307	(16)
Dave Etter
``Quietly Thinking Over Things at Christmas'' from Letters from the Country	323	(7)
Carol Bly
selections from poems from the sangamon	330	(10)
John Knoepfle
``If the Home Team Doesn't Win'' from The Decline of Rural Minnesota	340	(9)
Joseph A. Amato
John W. Meyer
``Sumus Quod Sumus'' from Lake Wobegon Days	349	(10)
Garrison Keillor
``Hardball'' from Grass Fires	359	(5)
Dan Gerber
``Two-Speed'' from Light in the Crossing	364	(11)
Kent Meyers
Part V: From Farm Crisis to the Present	375	(54)
``Decline and Denial'' from Broken Heartland	379	(11)
Osha Gray Davidson
``On the Cutting Edge: Changes in Midwestern Meatpacking Communities''	390	(11)
Donald D. Stull
``Village Character: The Pioneer Store'' from Winter Book	401	(5)
Norbert Blei
``A Broken Heartland'' from U.S. News and World Report	406	(6)
Jeff Glasser
``Business First and Always'' from Rethinking Home	412	(17)
Joseph A. Amato
Suggestions for Further Reading	429	(4)
Credits	433	(4)
About the Editors	437