Preface : that empty feeling -- Introduction : crisis and myth -- Militarized space. Englneering the landscape; From rural community to army town; The Cold War comes to the UP; Postscript : addicted to the military -- Industrial spaces. Factories instead of farms; Cars in the cornfields -- Rural Inc. Who's afraid of big?; Chains "r" us -- The suburbanization of rural America. Creating post-rural space; The politics of post-rural complaint -- Conclusion : places vs. spaces.
Summary:
"There's no such thing as rural America. Or, rather, as Steven Conn argues, "rural America" is a phrase that has been made to mean so many things that it doesn't mean anything. In fact, he maintains, rural America--so often characterized as in crisis or in danger of being left behind--has been shaped by the same major forces as the rest of the country since at least the end of the Civil War: militarization, industrialization, corporatization, and suburbanization. Conn calls for us to dispense with the fantasies and visions that are often imposed on rural America, in the hopes of more productively addressing the real challenges facing all of America"-- Provided by publisher.
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