To know a place deeply means to understand it on several levels, layered almost as if from bedrock to topsoil. Midwest Bedrock: The Search for Nature’s Soul in America’s Heartland takes readers on a journey across all twelve Midwest states to natural settings that defy typical stereotypes of the Midwest landscape. Each chapter focuses on one focal region or locality within each state, often seeking out lesser-known landscapes steeped in beauty and story.
Author Kevin Koch invites readers to join him on a journey through the beauty of the Midwest and to discover such places as Wisconsin’s 1, 100-mile Ice Age Trail that follows the furthest reach of the last glacier; Minnesota’s Lake Itasca, headwaters of the Mississippi River; and Indiana’s Hoosier National Forest, which still cradles hidden graveyards from long-abandoned farm communities.
Part history, part memoir, part interview-based research, Midwest Bedrock is a personal narrative of exploring the natural beauty of America’s Heartland, where each location tells the stories of the past that linger on the landscape.
Table of Content
Introduction: Midwest Bedrock
1. Wisconsin: The Ice Age Trail
2. Michigan: A Great Lakes Shoreline
3. Ohio: The Hocking Hills
4. Indiana: Hoosier National Forest
5. Kansas: The Flint Hills
6. Nebraska: The Niobrara River and Northern Sandhills
7. Missouri: The Katy Trail
8. Illinois: Cahokia and the Upper Mississippi River Shoreline
9. North Dakota: The Rendezvous Region
10. South Dakota: Glacial Lakes and the Eastern Corridor
11. Minnesota: Lake Itasca, Headwaters of the Mississippi River
12. Iowa: Effigy Mounds in the Driftless Land
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the author
Kevin Koch is author of Skiing At Midnight: A Nature Journal from Dubuque County, Iowa; The Driftless Land: Spirit of Place in the Upper Mississippi Valley; and The Thin Places: A Celtic Landscape from Ireland to the Driftless. More of his work, including shorter works on outdoor places and photos, can be viewed at https://www.kevinkochdriftlessland.net/. Koch is Professor of English at Loras College in Dubuque, IowaMore ebooks from the same author(s) / Editor
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