The Good Country
A History of the American Midwest, 1800–1900
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Narrated by:
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Douglas R. Pratt
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By:
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Jon K. Lauck
About this listen
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)
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American History, Volume 1 surveys the broad sweep of American history from the first Native American societies to the end of the Reconstruction period, following the Civil War. Drawing on a deep range of research and years of classroom teaching experience, Thomas S. Kidd offers students an engaging overview of the first half of American history. The volume features illuminating stories of people from well known presidents and generals, to lesser-known men and women who struggled under slavery and other forms of oppression to make their place in American life.
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Too much of an agenda
- By anon on 03-19-23
By: Thomas S. Kidd
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Vanguard
- How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All
- By: Martha S. Jones
- Narrated by: Mela Lee
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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The epic history of African American women's pursuit of political power - and how it transformed America.
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Vanguard
- By Omega Taylor on 11-21-24
By: Martha S. Jones
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The Problem with Lincoln
- By: Thomas J. DiLorenzo
- Narrated by: John McLain
- Length: 8 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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So many thousands of books deifying Abraham Lincoln have been published that it is nearly impossible for the average citizen to learn much of anything that is truthful about Lincoln’s presidency. You’ll learn that the real reason why Lincoln launched an invasion of his own country (he never admitted that secession was legal or legitimate) was to destroy the voluntary union of the founders and replace it with a coerced union held together by violence and threats of violence, much more like the old Soviet Union than the original American union.
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Not sure about this guy
- By Luis Renta on 07-26-20
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An African American and Latinx History of the United States
- By: Paul Ortiz
- Narrated by: J. D. Jackson
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Spanning more than 200 years, An African American and Latinx History of the United States is a revolutionary, politically charged narrative history arguing that the "Global South" was crucial to the development of America as we know it. Ortiz challenges the notion of westward progress, and shows how placing African American, Latinx, and Indigenous voices unapologetically front and center transforms American history into the story of the working class organizing against imperialism.
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I had to return
- By Andrew Alvarez on 05-19-20
By: Paul Ortiz
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Stony the Road
- Reconstruction, White Supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow
- By: Henry Louis Gates Jr.
- Narrated by: Dominic Hoffman
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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A profound new rendering of the struggle by African Americans for equality after the Civil War and the violent counterrevolution that resubjugated them, as seen through the prism of the war of images and ideas that have left an enduring racist stain on the American mind.
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Valuable examination of Jim Crow and Rise of White Supremacy in America
- By William J Brown on 05-14-19
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The Education of Blacks in the South, 1860-1935
- By: James D. Anderson
- Narrated by: Bill Andrew Quinn
- Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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James Anderson critically reinterprets the history of southern Black education from Reconstruction to the Great Depression. By placing Black schooling within a political, cultural, and economic context, he offers fresh insights into Black commitment to education, the peculiar significance of Tuskegee Institute, and the conflicting goals of various philanthropic groups, among other matters.
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Against all Odds
- By tubby on 10-21-22
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The Case for Nationalism
- How It Made Us Powerful, United, and Free
- By: Rich Lowry
- Narrated by: Roy Worley
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Case for Nationalism, Lowry explains how nationalism was central to the American Project. It fueled the American Revolution and the ratification of the Constitution. It preserved the country during the Civil War. It led to the expansion of the American nation’s territory and power, and eventually to our invaluable contribution to creating an international system of self-governing nations.
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Truth does matter !
- By CFC on 11-06-19
By: Rich Lowry
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Stamped from the Beginning
- The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America
- By: Ibram X. Kendi
- Narrated by: Christopher Dontrell Piper
- Length: 19 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Some Americans cling desperately to the myth that we are living in a post-racial society, that the election of the first Black president spelled the doom of racism. In fact, racist thought is alive and well in America - more sophisticated and more insidious than ever. And as award-winning historian Ibram X. Kendi argues in Stamped from the Beginning, if we have any hope of grappling with this stark reality, we must first understand how racist ideas were developed, disseminated, and enshrined in American society.
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Fabulous book, poor reader
- By EBMason on 11-15-17
By: Ibram X. Kendi
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The Slave's Cause
- A History of Abolition
- By: Manisha Sinha
- Narrated by: Allyson Johnson
- Length: 30 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Received historical wisdom casts abolitionists as bourgeois, mostly white reformers burdened by racial paternalism and economic conservatism. Manisha Sinha overturns this image, broadening her scope beyond the antebellum period usually associated with abolitionism and recasting it as a radical social movement in which men and women, black and white, free and enslaved, found common ground in causes ranging from feminism and utopian socialism to anti-imperialism and efforts to defend the rights of labor.
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Thorough, convincing and haunting
- By Roger on 07-23-17
By: Manisha Sinha
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American Nations
- A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America
- By: Colin Woodard
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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North America was settled by people with distinct religious, political, and ethnographic characteristics, creating regional cultures that have been at odds with one another ever since. Subsequent immigrants didn't confront or assimilate into an "American" or "Canadian" culture, but rather into one of the 11 distinct regional ones that spread over the continent each staking out mutually exclusive territory. In American Nations, Colin Woodard leads us on a journey through the history of our fractured continent....
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One of a Kind Masterpiece
- By Theo Horesh on 02-28-13
By: Colin Woodard
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Thaddeus Stevens
- Civil War Revolutionary, Fighter for Racial Justice
- By: Bruce Levine
- Narrated by: Landon Woodson
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Thaddeus Stevens was among the first to see the Civil War as an opportunity for a second American revolution - a chance to remake the country as a genuine multiracial democracy. As one of the foremost abolitionists in Congress in the years leading up to the war, he was a leader of the young Republican Party’s radical wing, fighting for anti-slavery and anti-racist policies long before party colleagues like Abraham Lincoln endorsed them. These policies - including welcoming black men into the Union’s armies - would prove crucial to the Union war effort.
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Excellent bio of a political hero
- By Anonymous User on 03-11-21
By: Bruce Levine
What listeners say about The Good Country
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Nathan
- 03-21-23
A thorough and thoughtful treatment of the traditi
This book gave a good overview of the traditional Midwest in the time period mentioned. It also gave an in-depth treatment of several points of the culture that would likely be of interest to anyone with a general overview of American history. The book was very well organized and treated the subject with the maturity and rigor of an academic work, organized into chapters that covered some of the major historical themes of American history. Although I thought as a casual listen, which for me this was, it did go a bit long in some of the themes so that they became a bit reparative, and I was tempted to skip through some of the chapters.... especially since the overview of said chapters was offered in the introduction of the book. Though I must admit I cannot judge the content of the book since other than an overall treatment of the region as part of an American history education I am no expert. I have the impression that the content was accurate and fair to the region it is about. Though probably a bit too in depth for some casual readers and too unspecific for serious historical students.
The narration was excellent and the deep somewhat rough voice of the narration suited the subject matter. I could picture him as a story teller under a shade tree in a Midwest town. Gathered with a bunch of listeners to the subject matter.
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- Lucas
- 04-30-24
Midwest history
This was a very beautiful history of the Midwest culture. I absolutely loved this book!! And recommend it to anyone that wants to know more about the Midwest!
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- Sarah Pierre
- 04-24-24
Fascinating and Refreshing
This book tells the story of the Midwest without the cynicism that is so chic among some historians. It’s honest and inspiring.
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- Amazon Customer
- 08-21-24
Best Chapter is How Midwest stood in opposition to Slavery South
too many lists but central thesis is un controversial; we ignore the middle of the country.
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