134. Jon Lauck on the Overlooked Cultural Story and Influence of the Midwest

This show is ostensibly about the Midwest. The culture we create.
The culture we consume. The way culture leads to art, to
politics, and to history. But the Midwest can be a squishy
concept without obvious shape or definition. Jon Lauck hopes to
change that through his work contextualizing the overlooked
cultural story and influence of the Midwest. He teaches history
and political science at the University of South Dakota and is
the author of The Good Country: A History of the American
Midwest. In this conversation with Tom Knoblauch, Lauck outlines
his mission to establish a new historical discourse grounded in
fair readings of the American past by locating a middle ground in
the center of the country.