Midwest Reading Group

When you pick up the pub at a coffee shop or a bookstore, you are always in a Chicago place. An awareness of this place in which we all live can fortify our shared position as writers, readers, thinkers, and workers of the Midwest. But what exactly is this Midwest we live in now? What has this Chicago grown from? the pub’s Midwest Reading Group focuses on these questions. 

For our second rotation of Midwest Reading Group, we’ll be reading William Cronon’s “Nature’s Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West.” Finalist for the 1992 Pulitzer Prize, this history of 19th century Chicago “is the story of city and country becoming ever more tightly bound in a system so powerful that it reshaped the American landscape and transformed American culture. The world that emerged is our own.” Read the Preface and the Prologue (up to page 22) for Session 1 on August 1. Reach out to [email protected] with questions. Hosted by Lillian Lippold.

Reading Schedule:

For 8/1: Preface through Prologue—p. xv thru 22

For 8/15: Chapters 1 and 2—p. 23 thru 96

For 8/29: Chapter 3—p. 97 thru 147

For 9/12: Chapter 4—p. 148 thru 206

For 9/26: Chapter 5—p. 207 thru 262

For 10/10: Chapters 6 and 7—p. 263 thru 340

For 10/24: Chapter 8 and Epilogue—p. 341 thru end