Caught in the Middle: America's Heartland in the Age of Globalism (Hardcover)

by Richard C. Longworth (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Ex–Chicago Tribune correspondent Longworth (Global Squeeze) paints a bleak, evocative portrait of the Midwest's losing struggle with foreign competition and capitalist gigantism. It's a landscape of shuttered factories, desperate laid-off workers, family farms gobbled up by agribusiness, once great cities like Detroit and Cleveland now in ruins, small towns devolved into depopulated rural slums haunted by pensioners and meth-heads. But the harshest element of the book is Longworth's own pitiless ideology of globalism. In his telling, Midwesterners are sluggish, unskilled, risk-averse mediocrities, clinging to obsolete industrial-age dreams of job security, allergic to change, indifferent to education and totally unfit for the global age. They are doomed because global competition is unstoppable, says Longworth, who dismisses the idea of trade barriers as simplistic nonsense purveyed by conspiracy theorists. The silver linings Longworth floats—biotechnology, proposals for regional cooperation—are meager and iffy. The Midwest's real hope, he insists, lies in a massive influx of mostly low-wage immigrant workers and in enclaves of the rich and brainy, like Chicago and Ann Arbor, where the creative class sells nebulous information solutions to dropouts and Ph.D.s. It's not the Middle West that's under siege in Longworth's telling; it's the now apparently quaint notion of a middle class. (Jan.)
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Review

“One place in America that nobody can accuse of being unaware of China's economic ascent is the heartland—the industrial region that formed the center of the 20th century's most dynamic and innovative economy, but now is synonymous with unemployed workers and foreclosed houses. Former foreign correspondent Longworth's gloomy assessment of the prospects of a region that has been one of globalization's clear losers is harsh. But while his tale of the failures of complacent workers, inept managers and clueless politicians to confront global competition takes place firmly in the nation's interior, he offers little reason for those living elsewhere to feel insulated from similar threats.”      —John Sparks, Newsweek

“A passionate, probing and painfully honest book.” —Jonathan Eig, Wall Street Journal

“A superb analysis of the crisis in the Midwest and sober advice on how to alleviate, if not eliminate, the region's pain. Moreover, he captures the flavor of the Midwest today, the nuevo Midwest -- replete with immigrants, urban/suburban/rural ghettos, hollowed-out cities, abandoned small towns, failing schools and feckless politicians. But it is still breathing and not without assets -- rich farmland, a plethora of fresh water, agricultural and industrial expertise and excellent research universities -- and a few success stories, a reborn Chicago, most notably....Caught in the Middle provides a brilliant battle plan.” —Peter A. Coclanis, Chicago Tribune

“But Longworth's book should be of interest even to those who have never come closer to America's heartland than to change planes at O'Hare. Almost any chapter of "Caught in the Middle" could generate a book's worth of debate anywhere in this country: What's to become of higher ed - or K-12 ed for that matter. The structure of state and local government as an impediment to remaking the economy. The role of immigration. The future of agriculture. The future of small towns not close enough to a metropolitan area to serve as bedroom communities.” —Bill Virgin, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

“The author has performed a public service by detailing the problem areas - farming, ethanol production, the loss of manufacturing, immigration and so on - that are challenging the citizens and their offspring in Missouri, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. We who think we've got it so good out here, far from the craziness of the East and West coasts, need to be shaken from our indifferent state of mind. Longworth makes a valiant stab at that.” —Repps Hudson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA (December 26, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596914130
• ISBN-13: 978-1596914131
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #24,467 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Review of" Caught in the Middle", February 21, 2008

By	William D. Saunders "Reader of History" (Weston, MA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This books tells more about what's going on in America today than anything I've ever read. Longworth's descriptions of the economic upheaval in the Mid-West
apply just as well to other areas such as New England
where I live. Most valuable are his analysyes of the
the communities and the companies that reside in them that have learned to thrive in the new global economy -
Chicago, Ann Arbor, Peoria, Columbus (Indiana), and
Madison (Wisconsin). His comments on education are right on target - the community colleges are providing the training needed by the new workforce. This is must
reading for anyone who is concerned about the country's
prosperity.

William Saunders
Whately, MA

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Global is to Ghetto as Education is to Unemployment, April 11, 2008

By	Thomas J. Hickey (River Forest, IL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I found this book interesting, because I was Senior Economist and Deputy Director of Economic Analysis for the Indiana Department of Commerce in the 1980's for the Administration of Governor Robert Orr. During those years I was also co-chair for the Economic Development Task Force of the Great Lakes Commission, an interstate compact with a charter from the U.S. Congress like the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

One of Longworth's theses is that the Midwest manufacturing region must be treated as a whole region, and that the individual States cannot address the economic adjustment to globalization in isolation from one another. I can agree that States stealing employers from one another cannot make the needed economic adjustments imposed by globalization; this is merely a zero-sum game for the region, and is not a remedy. While with the Great Lakes Commission I found that the Economic Development Task Force benefited its participants to the extent that we shared our research findings. But the Commission could take no action on economic development.

Contrary to Longworth I found that effective action is possible with the State governments, and that the best instrument for the State government action is the fiscal budget's public investment sectors. The Indiana's budget is about nine percent of its gross state product, and about half of the total budget is public investments: i.e. higher education, primary and secondary education, highways, airports, and water ports. These public investments facilitate development of the State economy's tax base and thus yield increases in tax collections independently of tax rates.

In 1986 I made an econometric model which exhibited an employment-maximizing allocation of public expenditures for Indiana's budget, and found that the optimal allocation implied very large increases to Indiana's primary and secondary education. These findings supported Governor Orr's "A+" legislative agenda for a $300 million increase in primary and secondary spending, which was enacted.

Longworth advocates improved primary and secondary education in Chapter Ten of his book. And former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan also advocates improved education in Chapter Twenty One of his recent book The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World.

Global is to ghetto as education is to unemployment, because education is the means for supplying the needed enhancements of human capital that turns globalization into opportunity instead of unemployment due to a ghetto economy.

On balance I thing that this book written by a journalist is well researched in many respects and is informative about Midwest economic history.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a book for its time, April 1, 2008

By	Abe J. Goldsmithh "a. j. goldsmith" (lake forest, illinois) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE
By Richard C. Longworth
Reviewed by A. J. Goldsmith
What parts of our Middle West are ready for the challenges of globalization? What parts aren't?
Veteran reporter Richard C. Longworth drove more than 11,000 miles throughout the Midwestern states of Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri and Ohio.
The result of his journey is a must- read book for our elected and wannabe-public officials, for university and college leaders and for the rest of us, Midwesterners who are "Caught in the Middle."
The subtitle is "America's Heartland in the Age of Globalism."
In every one of its 14 chapters, Longworth, a retired, award-winning, global correspondent for The Chicago Tribune, slays the dragons that are close to every heart in Middle America and sets out the challenges now facing us.
"By nature, Midwesterners can be aloof and uncommunicative that nature is hurting them now," the author a native of Boone, Iowa, says.
He finds that much of the region is in denial when it comes to coping with the present.
Longworth spares no feelings as he lays out what is not being done in Middle America to meet global competition, what is being ignored in this 21st century battle for economic survival and what can be accomplished if state boundaries are ignored, if universities limit competition to athletics broadening cooperation in many other areas and if truly, comprehensive planning is begun.
Longworth says: "The Midwest does two things for a living--farming and heavy industry--and globalization has turned both upside down."
The author found dying farm towns and crumbling old factory towns. Forget them, he says. Don't throw money at them. Let them go. There is a new economy to prepare for.
He spares no sympathy for Detroit and Cleveland, just two of several cities that have withered. He totally writes off many other towns that have seen their manufacturing jobs move first to southern states, then to Mexico and now to China. White collar jobs have moved to India and even to Dominican Republic.
Ann Arbor with the University of Michigan's brainpower is the new center for the auto industry, leaving Detroit far behind. Longworth says that Gary, Indiana, is a "slum" where 10 workers produce as much steel as 100 workers did 25 years ago.
"Indiana people seem to be content to be mediocre people living in mediocre cities," Longworth charges.
Dying also are Indiana's auto-industry-dependent cities of Muncie, Anderson, Kokomo and Marion.
And then there is Warsaw, Indiana, and Kalamazoo, Michigan, where the production of orthopedics is centered. High school students in Warsaw learn skills that will aid them in the production of orthopedics.
Not always negative, Longworth points to Greenville, Michigan, where 2,781 jobs were lost when Electrolux joined other companies that left earlier. Greenville only had 8,000 people. Now the first of six solar-panel plants is under construction and all are expected to be on line by 2010.
"Hundreds of rural farms are doomed. Small farms sell out when the factory jobs leave. Mega farms take their place."
Education is one key to meeting the globalization menace. Factory workers made good money and didn't value education for their children. Some can be retrained; many are too old.
Longworth writes that rural whites and urban blacks are globilization's losers; they are a new underclass.
"The new golden era is open to anyone with education, skills, imagination and creativity."
A high school education is minimal, but too much of high school is wasted especially the senior year. Why not let high school students take college courses that prepare them for the global world?
Community colleges must play a more important role in educating young people for the global world, retraining laid off workers and, importantly, teaching immigrants without whom, Longworth believes, our economy cannot function. The author cites, as examples, the small meatpacking towns in Iowa.
"The Midwest needs all the immigrants it can get. This is true of the more educated Asians and Africans and even more true of the uneducated Latinos."
Major universities must emphasize research and forget about educating undergraduates leaving that task for the smaller colleges and community colleges.
"Thirty percent of new jobs require a college or community college degree."
To my chagrin, Longworth fails to mention the amazing research that is being conducted by my alma mater, Purdue University, in a number of a different areas.
Longworth writes that the top schools need to wean themselves from state support replacing it with corporate and foundation dollars. They need to stop competing in areas where they are not truly competent and stress those areas in which they have the most expertise. They should talk to one another and do what is best for the Midwest in a global environment.
State boundaries are artificial, many decreed by the 1787 Northwest Ordinance or set after the Louisiana Purchase. The boundaries make no sense today in a globalized world.
He cites the European Union that today has blended Europe's states with a single currency and now allows unencumbered border crossings by EU residents.
The historical tensions between rural and urban interests in a state - so well-known to the Chicago metropolitan area- need to go in a time of globalization if there is to be survival. Chicago has more in common with Milwaukee than it does with such Illinois cities as Vandalia, Danville or Rock Island. Legislators seeking to balance interests within a state are doomed to failure and will never be able to meet globalization's challenge. It is better that elected officials look beyond their borders to solve interstate solutions to such mutual problems as rapid mass transit and acquiring global businesses.
There is little reason for each state in the Midwest to have individual offices seeking business in China. It would be much better if they pooled their efforts on behalf of the entire area.
As America looks forward to a 2009 presidential election, Longworth comments on the political mindset.
"In all Midwestern states like Iowa and Wisconsin, post election maps showed vast seas of rural red surrounding a few blue islands Chicago, Milwaukee, Iowa City, Cleveland and other big cities and college towns."
"The farther away an American lives from a city, the more likely he or she is to vote republican."
"Caught in the Middle" may be redundant at times, but that is because Longworth met similar problems and attitudes in the areas he visited and mindsets that were distressingly similar.
I thought that Longworth could have spent a little more time in Wisconsin. Maybe it was too cold?
Caught in the Middle. Published by Bloomsbury, USA. 2008
1058 words