Industrial Sunset

High, Steven. Industrial Sunset: The Making of North America’s Rust Belt, 1969-1984. Toronto; University of Toronto Press, 2003. The emptying of the mythical heart of the United States — and the birth of the Rust Belt and Rust Belt labels — signalled the decrepitude of the heavily industrialized states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, [...]

Breweries of Dayton

Dalton, Curt. Breweries of Dayton: A Toast to Brewers from the Gem City: 1810-1961. 2nd Edition. Dayton, Ohio, 2002. There has been increased interest in the 1920s and Prohibition.  So much so, that if it has not already happened, the major networks will start bringing out historic dramas set in the 1920s, similar to HBO’s Boardwalk [...]

Under Glass

Hirt, Jen. Under Glass: The Girl with a Thousand Christmas Trees. Akron, Ohio: Ringtaw Books, 2010. Stongsville is a rapidly growing western suburb of Cleveland; a town of less than 10,000 residents in 1960 and now a city of over 44,000.  I have driven through Stongsville on several occasions and it feels much more like [...]

Farm and Factory

Nelson, Daniel.  Farm and Factory: Workers in the Midwest 1880-1990.  Bloomington, Indiana; University of Indiana Press, 1995. Farm and Factory by Daniel Nelson is a history of the work that was done in the Midwest from the 1880s to 1990 (as the title suggests).  Nelson’s definition of the Midwest is Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, [...]

Caught in the Middle

Longworth, Richard C. Caught in the Middle: America’s Heartland in the Age of Globalism.  New York; Bloomsbury, 2008. Over the years, there have been many studies and books attempting to regionalize the United States.  In general, Ohio is usually lumped into the Midwest or sometimes the Great Lakes region.  This is traditionally the result of [...]

Broke, USA

Rivlin, Gary. Broke, USA: From Pawnshops to Poverty, Inc.: How the Working Poor became big business.  New York; HarperCollins, 2010. Though not about Ohio, much of Broke, USA‘s stories are about Ohio.  In Rivlin’s expose on the numerous businesses he terms the poverty industry (payday loans, rent-to-own, subprime mortgages, income tax return advancements, to the [...]

The Golden Lamb

Compton, Fred. The Golden Lamb: Tales from the Innside. Wilmington, Ohio; Orange Frazer Press, 2009. Located in Lebanon, the Golden Lamb is known as Ohio’s oldest continuously operating (and oldest) hotel.  Because it was a one day pre-car journey from Cincinnati for those heading East (via the National Road), it has a rich history of [...]