At the center of American history is a hole—a gap where some scholars’ indifference or disdain has too long stood in for the true story of the American Midwest. A first-ever chronicle of the Midwest’s formative century, The Good Country restores this American heartland to its central place in the nation’s history.

Jon K. Lauck, the premier historian of the region, puts midwestern “squares” center stage—an unorthodox approach that leads to surprising conclusions. The American Midwest, in Lauck’s cogent account, was the most democratically advanced place in the world during the nineteenth century. The Good Country describes a rich civic culture that prized education, literature, libraries, and the arts; developed a stable social order grounded in Victorian norms, republican virtue, and Christian teachings; and generally put democratic ideals into practice to a greater extent than any nation to date.

The “good country” was, of course, not the “perfect country,” and Lauck devotes a chapter to the question of race in the Midwest, finding early examples of overt racism but also discovering a steady march toward racial progress. He also finds many instances of modest reforms enacted through the democratic process and designed to address particular social problems, as well as significant advances for women.

The book is published by University of Oklahoma Press. The audiobook is published by University Press Audiobooks.

“In this detailed examination...Lauck presents an impassioned defense of the American Midwest ...” (Omaha World Herald)

“Jon K. Lauck...restores the middle of the nation to its proper place in the middle of the national story.” (George F. Will)

“I know of no historian who has done such a superb job chronicling and framing the history of the American Midwest than Jon Lauck.” (Gregory L. Schneider, author of Rock Island Requiem)