Uncovering America’s First Oil Landscape
In Pennsylvania’s Oil Creek Valley, the messy legacy of the country’s first petroleum boom.
East Chicago’s Failed Utopian Visions
A century ago, East Chicago, Indiana drafted its ideal future. Here's how that went.
Fire in Steubenville
"Each time I come back home / something else has burned."
“A City Upon a Hill”
In 1993, the Mississippi River destroyed the town of Valmeyer, Illinois. So residents moved it a mile uphill.
From Wasteland to Wildlife Habitat
A former Chicago dumping ground finds new life with restoration efforts.
Midwestern
"I heard the dreams of a revisionist age, / the once upon a time / of a land strong in industry."
meditations in the decline of western civilization
"this is how i ground myself. / i follow the writing on the wall."
Building the “Black to Green” Pipeline
In Evansville, Indiana, the NAACP and IBEW are training Black people for work in the clean energy industry, aiming for an equitable transition away from fossil fuels.
Read These Stories Instead of Watching Hillbilly Elegy
Eleven pieces on identity, community, exploitation, and resilience in Appalachia.
West Virginians Were Promised an Economic Revival. It Hasn’t Happened.
The coal industry continues to decline. Natural gas isn’t bringing the prosperity it promised. And now the pandemic has wrecked the state’s economy.
The Poisonous Legacy of Portsmouth’s Gaseous Diffusion Plant
The plant was erected in Pike County, Ohio during the cold war to enrich uranium. Then people started getting sick. Now, they're stuck cleaning up the mess.
These Trespasses
"All over McKean County, we claimed the unwanted spaces that adults had left behind."