Belt Summer Reads ’23
Some of our favorite reads from this past year.
Megan Giddings Reimagines the Rust Belt
Reimagining the Rust Belt in Megan Giddings' "The Woman Could Fly."
Imagining Queer Appalachian Futures
A conversation with Z. Zane McNeill, editor of 'Y'All Means All.'
The History and Future of Rust Belt Labor Power
A conversation with Kim Kelly, author of 'Fight Like Hell.'
The Best Rust Belt Books of 2021
A Belt critic's Rust Belt 'Lit List.'
Jessica Hopper’s Regional Sensibility
The Chicago writer's "no bullshit" approach shines through in the revised edition of "The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic."
John Edgar Wideman and Writing to Save Lives
Re-reading Wideman's "Writing to Save a Life" in an era of racist violence.
Development in Black and White
An interview with Jason Hackworth, author of "Manufacturing Decline: How Racism and the Conservative Movement Crush the American Rust Belt."
Under the Big Dome
How the now-defunct Civic Arena buried Pittsburgh's "Little Harlem."
The Afterlives of the 1933 Century of Progress Homes
They were built to demonstrate the promise of home technology for the World's Fair. What happened to them?
Urban Ecology and Animism in the Landscape of the Great Lakes
An interview with Matt Stansberry and Gavin Van Horn.
Conjuring Steel
Fly-fishing for steelhead in the Cuyahoga—with a touch of tarot.