The Lies of the Land: Seeing Rural America for What It Is—and Isn't

In The Lies of the Land: Seeing Rural America for What It Is—and Isn't, author Steven Conn claims to be debunking many a myth about rural America. First, he spends significant time discussing the fact that rural is virtually undefinable. Second, he argues that the idea of rural America being in crisis is utterly ridiculous. How can a place be in crisis if economic hardship is a perpetual state? Then, the author claims there is nothing unique about rural America, since it has been shaped by exactly the same forces as urban America: militarization, industrialization, corporatization, and suburbanization have influenced the development of both environments. The author illustrates these broad trends with a number of carefully chosen examples, such as the development of places like Killeen, Texas, which came in the wake of the placement of military installations. The author also spends a great deal of time discussing the development of businesses, such as Dollar General, that target low-income communities underserved by other retail outlets.This reader, however, is not convinced. Conn has not presented any new evidence, at least to those of us who study rural America, and the way in which he has told his tale is both unfortunate and sloppy. The tone is grating and self-congratulatory, and sometimes sarcastic, which shows a grave lack of respect or concern for the people about whom he writes. The author has also had a bit of trouble identifying his sources. Neil Harl is cited as “Lawyer Neil Harl.” Yes, Harl had a law degree, but he did not practice or teach law. He also earned a doctorate in agricultural economics, and was one of the leading agricultural economists in the United States in the second half of the twentieth century. Additionally, while Earl Heady was indeed an agricultural economist, he did not teach at the University of Iowa. He spent his whole career at Iowa State University. These inaccuracies are jarring and reflect a lack of knowledge of some of the primary players in the development of rural policy in the mid-to-late twentieth century.Some parts of the book show a lack of understanding of events as they happened. Conn's only source for his discussion of the Farm Crisis of the 1980s is anthropologist Kathryn Dudley's work on a single community in Minnesota. While it is unfair to expect that he would know the content of my 2022 book, When a Dream Dies: Agriculture, Iowa, and the Farm Crisis of the 1980s, it would have been a good idea for him to do additional research before relying on a good but narrow resource. Farmers in distress were not entirely alone with their troubles. Activists did not make up the majority of Midwestern farmers, but there was a very significant activist presence in every Midwestern state, particularly by the middle of the decade. It would not have taken much research to find that information.The author also fails to see the irony in some of his discussion, in particular when it comes to retail. Yes, Dollar General's strategy is to put their stores into communities that are underserved and often impoverished. In Lies of the Land, that reads like a bad thing. While I am not professing any sort of attachment to Dollar General, I do find it impressive that the company is willing to go into neglected corners of rural America. Isn't that what grocers and other retailers are often excoriated for, when they choose not to place outlets in neglected inner-city neighborhoods?By the end of the book, the author is sounding distinctly like Deborah and Frank Popper, who suggested in the mid-1980s that it was time to abandon the Great Plains for the sake of the ecosystem. Except in The Lies of the Land, Conn suggests that rural America be abandoned for the sake of more environmentally friendly, high-density living. How this could be accomplished without starving us all, he does not explain. If we are going to be fed, someone is going to have to do that work, and those people are going to require places to live. Additionally, much of the existing high-density real estate in the United States is in coastal areas, which could soon be inundated by rising sea levels. Conn's comments seem flippant—almost an afterthought. If someone else wants to tackle the question of what rural America is, and isn't, the field is still open.