My Three Dads: Patriarchy on the Great Plains

Format: Paperback Language: English ISBN: 0226820106 ISBN13: 9780226820101 Release Date: August 2022 Publisher: University of Chicago Press Length: 256 Pages Weight: 0.65 lbs. Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.6" x 8.5" Sharp and thought-provoking, this memoir-meets-cultural criticism upends the romanticism of the Great Plains and the patriarchy at the core of its ideals. For many Americans, Kansas represents a vision of Midwestern life that is good and wholesome and evokes the American ideals of god, home, and country. But for those like Jessa Crispin who have grown up in Kansas, the realities are much harsher. She argues that the Midwestern values we cling to cover up a long history of oppression and control over Native Americans, women, and the economically disadvantaged. Blending personal narrative with social commentary, Crispin meditates on why the American Midwest still enjoys an esteemed position in our country's mythic self-image. Ranging from The Wizard of Oz to ra