Broken Heartland: The Rise of America’s Rural Ghetto

University of Iowa Press, 240 pages, notes, index, bibliography (Expanded Edition)

The definitive look at the decline of the family farm.”– CNN

Osha Gray Davidson chronicles the decline of the Heartland and its transformation into a bitterly divided and isolated regional ghetto. Through interviews with more than two hundred farmers, social workers, government officials, and scholars, he puts a human face on the farm crisis of the 1980s.

In this expanded edition Davidson emphasizes the tenacious power of far-right-wing groups; his chapter on these burgeoning rural organizations in the original edition of Broken Heartland was the first in-depth look—six years before of the Oklahoma City bombing—at the politics of hate they nurture. He also spotlights NAFTA, hog lots, sustainable agriculture, and the other battles and changes over the past six years in rural America.

• Named one of “The 100 Most Significant Books On US Hunger and Poverty” by the World Hunger Year organization.

Reviews

Indianapolis Star

A handy primer on the poorly understood farm plight and an impassioned defense of rural culture.

Cleveland Plain Dealer

This thoughtful, well-researched and chilling study relies on statistics, sociological analysis and interviews with the dispossessed to demolish any lingering Garrison Keillor-style myths about bucolic bliss in the Heartland. Davidson has splendidly illustrated a complex national tragedy.

Philadelphia Inquirer

Stands out for its powerful documentation of…the farm crisis.

Milwaukee Sentinel

…touching and compelling…

Lexington (KY) Herald-Leader

On the basis of three years of research and interviews with more than 200 people, he had provided a well-written account of the pain that has swept many farming communities….Davidson hits the nail on the head.