ALPLM hosts book chat with author of new history of the Midwest
Free event takes place Jan. 30 at noon

 

[January 25, 2023] 

The Midwest is often labeled “flyover country” – a nice place where little of interest happens or ever has happened. Historian Jon K. Lauck challenges that stereotype in his book “The Good Country,” which he will discuss next week at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.

The book chat takes place at noon, Monday, Jan. 30, in the ALPLM’s library building (112 N. Sixth Street, Springfield). It is free. No reservation is needed.

Lauck calls the Midwest the nation's most understudied and misunderstood region. He points to its many democratic advances throughout the 1800s – opposition to slavery, support for public education, opportunities for upward mobility and backing for women’s suffrage.

At one time, it was “the most advanced democratic society that the world had seen to date,” Lauck says.

But he acknowledges the region’s failings. Native Americans were treated horribly. States found loopholes in their bans on slavery and discriminated against free Black residents. The poor, particularly immigrants, faced exploitation and miserable working conditions. “This book is titled ‘The Good Country,’ not ‘The Perfect Country,’” Lauck writes.

Lauck's book has been praised in the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, The Associated Press and other publications, and he has been called one of the principal figures in a renaissance of Midwestern studies. After his ALPLM appearance, Lauck will sign copies of his book at Books on the Square (427 E. Washington Street, Springfield).

Lauck has a law degree and a doctorate in history. He serves as an adjunct professor of history and political science at the University of South Dakota and is past president of the Midwestern History Association. His other books include “The Lost Region: Toward a Revival of Midwestern History” and “From Warm Center to Ragged Edge: The Erosion of Midwestern Regionalism, 1920-1965.”

The mission of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is to inspire civic engagement through the diverse lens of Illinois history and sharing with the world the life and legacy of Abraham Lincoln. We pursue this mission through a combination of rigorous scholarship and high-tech showmanship built on the bedrock of the ALPLM’s unparalleled collection of historical materials – some 12 million items from all eras of Illinois history.

For more information, visit www.PresidentLincoln.illinois.gov. 

[Christopher Wills]