I received “How Iowa Conquered the World” to facilitate my review, but all thoughts and opinions are 100% my own and they are honest.
Here’s something you may not know about me: I LOVE history! I actually have a double major in secondary education along with American & World History. I taught high school social studies for 2 years after college…teaching wasn’t for me, but I still love history! When I got the opportunity to read and review Michael Rank’s new book, How Iowa Conquered the World, I couldn’t turn it down.
I finished the book recently and couldn’t help but think about how what he works to prove in his book affects me and my family. Having been born and raised in Iowa and never lived anywhere else (traveled a lot, but never lived anywhere), I of course, think it’s a pretty great place to live.
The chapter that probably resonated the closest to me is Chapter 2: Why Iowa is the Multicultural Capital of the World. A lot of people don’t think about Iowa being culturally diverse and I’ve actually heard that we aren’t “worldly” here, but is that really true? As I look around my own community I see Asians, Hispanics of all different nationalities, I hear names that ring of German descent, I know a great family that has a very strong Danish heritage and we have African Americans. Churches here put on festivals and dinners featuring Lefsa and Abelskiever. You can visit Amish farms and get the best home baked goods! Don’t forget to stop by the Greek church for their festival or visit the Amana Colonies for some amazing German food! (This is one of my favorites…see that post here).
I think you get my point. While we may not have all the benefits of being in a big metropolis area, we have several of the benefits of having all sorts of cultures and ethnicities around us. Our kids are growing up next to kids of all different nationalities and to them it’s normal. Isn’t that what the epitome of the melting pot is?
I love raising our boys in Iowa and truly can’t think of a better place to do so. There is an amazing amount of information in this book about the great place that Iowa is and how we really have affected and will continue to affect the world around us. If you’re interested about who we are, where we came from, and where we are going, this is a great read! I learned a lot, which is rather fitting since I’m Learning As I Go
I was a secondary ed / history major, too. I’ll have to check out the book.
It is very interesting and to be honest, i enjoyed it much more than i anticipated.
That is such a great review, Katy. I am not quite the history buff but this one even looks appealing to me. Thanks for sharing such a great and honest review for those of us who might have missed this book. 🙂
My privilege! It really did help open my eyes and think about things!