This four-volume reference is intended for high school students and above, as well as the general public. The first volume opens with introductory essays on the history of feminism; on women in various eras (from early America through World War II and postwar eras); and on women's history in terms of political participation and social activism, race and ethnicity, and cultural representation. These essays are signed and include references. Following are alphabetically arranged state articles, each opening with a literary quote (by a woman) and comprising a narrative history supplemented with boxed features spotlighting events, people, and trends; a timeline; a biographical section on prominent women; a description of relevant sites; resources; a state map; primary document excerpts; and a chart of key statistical information. Appendices include a chronology, primary documents, statistical tables, and an extensive general bibliography. Numerous scholars contributed, working under the editorial leadership of Weatherford (U. of South Florida). Annotation ♭2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).

This four-volume reference is intended for high school students and above, as well as the general public. The first volume opens with introductory essays on the history of feminism; on women in various eras (from early America through World War II and postwar eras); and on women's history in terms of political participation and social activism, race and ethnicity, and cultural representation. These essays are signed and include references. Following are alphabetically arranged state articles, each opening with a literary quote (by a woman) and comprising a narrative history supplemented with boxed features spotlighting events, people, and trends; a timeline; a biographical section on prominent women; a description of relevant sites; resources; a state map; primary document excerpts; and a chart of key statistical information. Appendices include a chronology, primary documents, statistical tables, and an extensive general bibliography. Numerous scholars contributed, working under the editorial leadership of Weatherford (U. of South Florida). Annotation ♭2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).

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 outbreak of the Civil War and the fight against the slaveholding South only deepened the Midwest’s dedication to advancing a democratic culture and solidified its regional identity. 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, who were active in civic affairs and took advantage of the Midwest’s openness to women in higher education. Lauck reaches his conclusions through a measured analysis that weighs historical achievements and injustices, rejects the acrimonious tones of the culture wars, and seeks a new historical discourse grounded in fair readings of the American past. In a trying time of contested politics and culture, his book locates a middle ground, fittingly, in the center of the country.

Examining four centuries of Midwestern women's history, contributors discuss ways these women's lives both resemble and differ from those of women of other regions. Midwestern female experience is shown to be distinctive in terms of degrees of migration, which resulted in the Midwest becoming a cultural crossroads.

Spanning five hundred years of American history, this definitive reference provides an incisive look at the contributions that women have made to the social, cultural, political, economic, and scientific development of the United States. Original.