What is the relation of geography and politics? I love David S. Brown's book, Beyond the Frontier, where he traces a 'midwestern' historical tradition with characteristics shaped both by opposition to the eastern orthodoxy and the special quality of the midwest, or the frontier, itself. You could say it's a Turnerian approach to historiography - and Turner is of course one of his key characters. He was a Madison, Wisconsin man, until he came to Harvard for the end of his career. (Carl Becker studied there under Turner; Charles Beard went to DePauw, a member of the Great Lakes Colleges Association.)
Madison was also where William Appleman Williams and some youthful proteges started the historians' New Left, and its journal Studies on the Left. Today, Madison continues a reputation for academic radicalism. Erik Olin Wright, who's recent book I have reviewed, is there for example. Then there's Michigan, where near Port Huron the SDS was formed. And over east a bit, Vermont, with its "democratic socialist" senator Bernie Sanders. So, my question is, is there something about this place that makes it a home for radicalism in a conservative country? If so, what? Is it the proximity of Canada? The frontier tradition? The Northwest Ordinance?! Seems like a pretty interesting place, anyway.
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