Where East Meets (Mid)West: Exploring an American Regional Divide

Essays on midwestern regional identity

Somewhere west of the Appalachians and north of the Ohio River, the Midwest begins. Just where exactly, and how, and why are the questions explored in Where East Meets (Mid)West. Bringing together a range of perspectives, the volume argues that while cultural boundaries remain difficult to define, Ohio has been central to regional transitions throughout history. To Native Americans, Ohio was the meeting place of two major drainage basins: the Ohio River and the Great Lakes Basin, which resulted in large amounts of trade activity, cultural exchange, and conflict. During America’s westward expansion, Ohio was an essential pathway, the first of the new Northwest territories to gain statehood, and a battleground over the issue of enslavement.

More recently, Ohio’s diverse makeup--a combination of rural agriculture, new industry, urbanism, and the Rust Belt--has made it challenging to categorize. Is it part of the Midwest? Does the Midwest even begin in Ohio, or does the transition start in western New York or along the western edge of Pennsylvania? The contributors to Where East Meets (Mid)West wrestle with these questions of cultural and regional identity, exploring from various angles what it means to be midwestern.

Jon K. Lauck teaches history and political science at the University of South Dakota, and he is editor in chief of Middle West Review. Lauck has authored or edited various books, including The Good Country: A History of the American Midwest.

Gleaves Whitney is the executive director of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation. He has authored and edited eighteen books on presidential or midwestern history.