The Innocent Midwest

The Innocent Midwest delves into one of the most enduring stereotypes in American cultural history: the image of the Midwest as a bastion of innocence. Despite its share of social, political, and economic complexities, the region has long been portrayed as wholesome, virtuous, and peace loving-a perception that has persisted from its pastoral beginnings through industrialization and into the digital age.

This book traces the roots and evolution of that myth, arguing that the Midwest’s innocent image has been carefully cultivated through American popular and high culture. From literature and film to music and visual art, the trope of the innocent Midwesterner has shaped national perceptions of the region for over a century. Focusing on literature from 1793 to the 1920s, the book explores how this character type emerged, evolved, and eventually confronted the disillusionment of the machine age.

Organized thematically, the book examines early frontier narratives, stories of Midwesterners abroad, Progressive Era ideals of neighborliness, immigrant and migrant experiences, and the eventual unraveling of the pastoral dream. It reveals how the myth of innocence was underpinned by a constellation of values-agrarianism, Christian morality, and a belief in education-that supported the Jeffersonian vision of a democratic, virtuous citizenry.

Rather than offering a sweeping theory of regional identity, The Innocent Midwest focuses on the recurring literary figure of the innocent Midwesterner-an individual shaped by the land and striving for self-actualization. The book draws both on canonical authors like Mark Twain, William Dean Howells, Booth Tarkington, Sinclair Lewis, Theodore Dreiser, and Willa Cather and on lesser-known voices such as Maria Susanna Cummins, David Graham Phillips, Elia W. Peattie, William Webb, Chief Luther Standing Bear, and Oscar Micheaux, whose works contributed to the cultural construction of the Midwest.

Through its nuanced exploration of literature and culture, this book offers a compelling account of how the Midwest came to symbolize innocence-and why that image continues to resonate in the American imagination.