Arts & Culture

My Life in Funerals

At my age, farewells to the departed are the mainstay of my social life

White America Gets a Look in the Mirror

“Natchez” is a snapshot of all America, not just the South

What Rural America Can Learn from Haitian Immigrants

Immigrant communities have developed sophisticated survival strategies. Those lessons can serve rural people facing their own crisis of abandonment.

A Strategy to Heal America’s Rural-Urban Divide

Political scientist Suzanne Mettler sees county party chairs as key to our democracy

Our Readers’ Favorite Books of 2025

The books—old and new—that our readers and staff enjoyed this year

How a Small Nebraska Town Became an Arts Destination

The Bone Creek Museum of Agrarian Art has put David City on the map

‘Homesick for the Land Itself’

Author, farmer and advocate Brooks Lamb on cultivating common ground through love for the land

Coal Country Thanksgiving

The meaning of an old mountain tradition before it became “heritage cooking”

At Gilliard Farms, Food, Healing and Heritage Grow Together

For 150 years, a family of Gullah Geechee descent has preserved their story through family land
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From Midwest Connections

Midwest Connections

On Caucus Day in Iowa, a Different Kind of Spin Cycle

Ordinary acts of care teach us to look beyond false claims to glory

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Culture
October 2, 2025

How an Oil Boom Town Is Building New Opportunities Outside of the Oil Field

A decade after the Bakken oil rush, Watford City has remade itself into a growing community by keeping young people local

Culture
September 29, 2025

Farm Aid, at 40, Offers a Lifeline for Farmers Facing Their Worst Crisis in Decades

Willie Nelson, Neil Young and Bob Dylan headline a milestone 12-hour benefit concert

History
July 24, 2025

Iowa Republicans Are Erasing the State’s History

Sixty percent of the historical society archives are being trashed with no transparency