Caught in the middle : America's heartland in the age of globalism

"Richard Longworth explores the new realities of life in America's heartland, uncovering what these changes mean for the region and the country. In the process, he covers everything from the manufacturing collapse that has crippled the Midwest to the biofuels revolution that may save it, and from the school districts struggling with new immigrants to the Iowa meatpacking towns that can't survive without them. The results, which are often surprising, add up to a portrait of a vast and influential segment of America's economy and culture that goes almost entirely ignored in the national media" - Dust jacket