The States Of America: The Midwest: Volume One

Illinois, Indiana & Iowa

The Histories Of Illinois, Indiana & Iowa In One Volume

The American Midwest is far more than flyover country. It is where the nation's most fundamental conflicts have been fought, where waves of immigrants built new lives from raw prairie, and where agricultural and industrial revolutions transformed not just a region but the world.

In this first volume of The States Of America: The Midwest, Daniel Hardy explores the intertwined histories of Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa—three states that have witnessed nearly every defining moment of the American experiment. From the violent dispossession of Indigenous nations to the crisis over slavery's expansion, from Lincoln's rise in Illinois to the labor battles that built the American middle class, these states have been at the center of the national story, not its margins.

Hardy traces how great rivers like the Mississippi and Ohio shaped commerce and conflict, how European immigrants transformed wilderness into the world's breadbasket, and how cities like Chicago emerged as industrial powerhouses that rivaled any in the world. He examines the family farms that feed nations, the steel mills that built cities, and the political culture that has produced both progressive reformers and conservative stalwarts.

Combining rigorous scholarship with accessible storytelling, The States Of America: The Midwest reveals how understanding these three states means understanding the forces that continue to shape America itself—its promises and contradictions, its triumphs and ongoing struggles.