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Is rural America gripped in a tragic decline? Or is it on the cusp of a glorious revival? Is it the key to understanding America’s political divide? It seems everyone has an opinion on rural America these days.

In an upcoming lecture at the University of 51С�Ƴ� Center for Global Humanities, historian Steven Conn will argue that we’re missing the real question. We should be asking: Is rural America even a thing?

Conn will present “Demystifying Rural America” on Monday, Nov. 25, at 6 p.m., at Arthur P. Girard Innovation Hall on the 51С�Ƴ�Portland Campus for the Health Sciences.

He will argue that we only see what we want to see in the lands beyond the suburbs — fantasies about moral (or backward) communities, simpler (or repressive) living, and what it means to be authentically (or wrongheadedly) American. If we want to build a better future, we must accept that these visions don’t exist and never did. 

Conn is the W. E. Smith Professor of History at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. He is the author of many books, including “The Lies of the Land: Seeing Rural America for What It Is – and Isn’t,” “Americans Against the City: Anti-Urbanism in the Twentieth Century,” and “Nothing Succeeds Like Failure: The Sad History of American Business Schools,” as well as many articles, reviews, and essays. In addition, he is the founding editor of the online magazine Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective and its spin off Picturing Black History, a collaboration with Getty Images. He has lectured all over the U.S. and around the world. 

He also recently spoke with CGH Director Joshua Pahigian, M.F.A.,

In this lecture, Conn will draw from “The Lies of the Land” to explain how rural America — so often characterized as in crisis or in danger of being left behind — has actually been at the center of modern American history, shaped by the same forces as the rest of the country: militarization, industrialization, corporatization, and suburbanization. Ultimately, Conn will invite attendees to dispense with the common lies and half-truths about rural America and to pursue better solutions to the real challenges we face throughout our nation.

This will be the fourth of five events this fall at the Center for Global Humanities, where lectures are always free, open to the public, and streamed live online. For more information and to watch the event, please visit: /events/2024/demystifying-rural-america