The New Midwest (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780997774283)

A sleek volume that expands our understanding of the Midwest through the writers who have portrayed it. Hailed by The Chicago Tribune for seeing the Midwest "for what it really is."

In the public imagination, Midwestern literature has not evolved far beyond stories of heartland laborers and hardscrabble immigrants from past centuries. But as the region has changed, so has its fiction. In this book, Mark Athitakis explores how shifts in work, class, place, race, and culture have been reflected or ignored by contemporary novelists and short story writers. Authors Athitakis considers include Marilynne Robinson, Toni Morrison, Jane Smiley, Leon Forrest, Aleksandar Hemon, Bonnie Jo Campbell, and Stewart O'Nan.

This book is a call to reconsider the way we think about Midwestern fiction, and one that is sure to prompt some new must-have additions to your reading list.

About the Author
Mark Athitakis serves on the board of the National Book Critics Circle and writes the Reading the Midwest column for Belt Magazine. He has been published in Barnes and Noble Review, Chicago Sun-Times, New York Times Book Review, Washington Post Book World, and many other outlets. He lives in Phoenix, Arizona.