On January 28, author and historian Jon K. Lauck will discuss his new book The Good Country: A History of the American Midwest (University of Oklahoma Press, 2022) at Raygun in Des Moines. In his book, Lauck explores the origins and growth of the Midwest, the nation’s most understudied and misunderstood region. Lauck asks readers to reconsider the history of the Midwest and points to the region’s many democratic advances throughout the 1800s. Lauck’s book has been praised in the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and other publications.
Author: Jon K. Lauck is the author of several books, including The Lost Region: Toward a Revival of Midwestern History (University of Iowa Press, 2013); From Warm Center to Ragged Edge: The Erosion of Midwestern Regionalism, 1920-1965 (University of Iowa Press, 2017); and Prairie Republic: The Political Culture of Dakota Territory (University of Oklahoma Press, 2010). Lauck has worked for several years as a full-time professor, a part-time professor, and a lawyer and is currently serving as an adjunct professor of history and political science at the University of South Dakota and as Editor-in-Chief of Middle West Review. He earned his Ph.D. in history from the University of Iowa and his law degree from the University of Minnesota.