Tales of the Midwest: Growing Up and Growing Old in Rural Small-Town, U.S.A.

" God must love the common man; he made so many of them." -Abraham Lincoln They have been called the silent majority-those who toiled from dawn 'til dusk in America's factories, shops, farms, and offices. They have been termed middle class and Middle America. Many of them inhabit the Midwest. They produce the limitless grain, spreadsheets, documents, and widgets that make the United States the greatest society the world has ever known. If ever a generation shared a common experience, it was the baby boom generation. Television markets had three stations, which were controlled by three major networks. Radio stations were dominated by Top 40 hits, providing the common soundtrack of the generation's experiences. School consisted of readin', writin', and 'rithmetic', team sports were practiced after school, chores were done at home, and church was mandatory. All this to produce tomorrow's generators of widgets, grainfields, spreadsheets, and documents. But common experiences and rote preparation for one's place or cog in society's machine does not necessarily translate into common thoughts. This is a peek into the last bastion of Middle America: the Midwest. Two boys who grew up there in heyday of the baby boom generation wrote about some of their common experiences and uncommon thoughts. This anthology is the timeline of their lives, but it might resemble yours as well. Accept the challenge to find out.