"Adler has produced a nicely written and clearly argued monograph that should forever dispel the idea that any real explanatory power can be attached to abstract notions of geographic 'destiny.' What happens to a place is almost always the product of controllable and historical forces: the choices made and actions undertaken by the people who create its economy, culture, and politics. Adler's sophisticated sense of the cultural and economic meanings of 'region' adds further depth and innovation to his argument; like all other discernable areas of the country, as he shows, what seems particular to the Midwest must be located within a national history of markets and capitalist development. Anyone interested in the complex interrelations of eastern finance and (then) western economic potential, the power of imagery to determine the fate of a place, and the meaning of cities in this mostly agrarian region will find much of value in Adler's fine study." The Annals of Iowa.