Ohio History and Culture (2 of 6 in a mini-series, Mess 'o Midwest Reading)

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I've previously done a blog on a smaller collection of my Ohio books Round on the Edges, High in the Middle that includes some of the books mentioned here. Since then, my collection of books on Ohio has grown and I've now broken it into two subgroups: History and Culture and Biography and Memoir. Into the next stage of life, I'm trying to expand my understanding of Midwest history and especially my Ohio roots. 

Here are the highlights of my collection of History and Culture:

Top Row

  1. Ohio – Walter Havighurst (1976). Broad overview of Ohio’s history, culture, and industries by one of the state’s best-known historians. I co-authored a commemorative article about him with Jacqueline Johnson of the University of Miami of Ohio for The Middle West Review, A Midwestern Storyteller of the Inland Seas: A Tribute to Walter Havighurst

  2. The Trees – Conrad Richter (1940). Historical novel about pioneers settling in Ohio; first book in The Awakening Land trilogy. A favorite of historian David McCullough (one of his books mentioned below). 

  3. Steel Town U.S.A. – Sherry Lee Linkon & John Russo (2002). Explores the decline of the steel industry and its impact on working-class life in the Ohio Valley. The important of this book was the author's view that the landscape is a repository of a community's memory. In the case of Youngstown, it was their steel mills, most of which are long gone. 

  4. The Ohio Literary Trail: A Guide – Betty Weibel (2020). A guidebook to Ohio’s literary landmarks, authors, and festivals. It highlights some of the many famous authors through Ohio's history including Harriet Beecher Stowe, Sherwood Anderson, James Thurber, and Toni Morrison.

  5. Original Ohio: Dreamsville, the Magic City & Other Historic Ohio Communities – David Meyers & Elise Meyers Walker (2018). Examines forgotten and unusual communities across Ohio.

  6. Underground Railroad in Ohio – Kathy Schulz (2019). A detailed history of how Ohio, with its location between slave states and freedom in Canada, became a critical corridor of the Underground Railroad. Covers routes, safe houses, abolitionists, and the risks faced by those escaping slavery and those assisting them.

Second Row

  1. Barnstorming Ohio: To Understand America – David Giffels (2020). Journalist David Giffels travels through Ohio during a presidential election year, exploring its role as a political bellwether. Definitely read his other books such as The Hard Way On Purpose about life in Akron during its Rustbelt years. 

  2. The Pioneers – David McCullough (2019). Tells the story of the Ohio Company settlers, lead by veterans of the Revolutionary War, were among the first settlers of the Northwest Territory and how they brought American ideals westward into the Ohio Valley on a river ship christened, Mayflower II. 

  3. Ohio Builds a Nation – Glenn Stille (1938). A centennial-era volume highlighting Ohio’s contributions to the nation’s growth in politics, industry, and culture. Dedicated to the Ohio State Senator, Chester Castile Bolton. Found this used copy at the Department of State Bookstore. 

  4. The New Eden: James Kilbourne and the Development of Ohio – Goodwin Berquist & Paul C. Bowers Jr. (1976). Biography of James Kilbourne, an early Ohio surveyor, minister, and founder of Worthington, Ohio. He also surveyed the plat for Sandusky, Ohio that is the only city in the world that is layed out in a grid representing the Masonic emblem. 

  5. Stories of Ohio – William Dean Howells (1897; reprint editions available). A collection of stories retelling Ohio’s early history, written by one of Ohio’s most famous literary figures.

  6. The Ohio River: A Course of Empire – Archer Butler Hulbert (1906; later reprints). History of the Ohio River as a migration route, commercial artery, and cultural boundary.

Bottom Row

  1. Made in Ohio: A History of Buckeye Invention & Ingenuity – Conrade C. Hinds (2016)
    Chronicles Ohio’s long history of innovation, from aviation to everyday inventions like footballs and lollipops. Purchase my copy from the author at the 2023 Buckeye Book Festival. 

  2. The Bounty Lands – William Donohue Ellis (1952). A historic novel that builds on George Washington's land grants to Revolutionary War veterans. True to the history of the time, it details the struggles that many of the veterans had with holding on to their grants and settling the land. Set in the NW Ohio town of Mesopotamia. 

  3. Ohio Lands – John F. Hines, Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (1970s). Explains land surveys, grants, and divisions that shaped Ohio’s boundaries and property ownership.

  4. The Reverse Underground Railroad in Ohio – David Meyers & Elise Meyers Walker (2021).
    Examines the dark side of southern kidnapping rings that infiltrated Ohio to capture free African Americans in Ohio and sold them into slavery.

  5. William Wells and the Struggle for the Old Northwest – William Heath (2015). Biography of William Wells, frontiersman and captive-turned-interpreter, pivotal in early Ohio Valley conflicts.

  6.  Settling Ohio: First Peoples and Beyond – Edited by Timothy G. Anderson & Brian Schoen (2023). Scholarly collection exploring Native Americans, settlers, and cultural encounters in early Ohio.

    19. Not pictured: Unnatural Ohio: A History of Buckeye Cryptids, Legends & Other Mysteries -M. Kristina Smith and Kevin Moore (2023). The book, written by historians from the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library and Museums is divided into three sections: Buckeye Cryptids, Ghostly Tales and UFOs and Mysteries of the Sky. Caveat: I still need to add to my collection. 

     

     



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