Survival of Rural America

Survival of Rural America PDF Author: Richard E. Wood
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 262

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Book Description
Shows how small farming communities--the heart and soul of America--are both besieged and determined to survive, and reveals, through vivid storytelling, how the future of America is being played out on the high plains of Kansas.

Survival of Rural America

Survival of Rural America PDF Author: Richard E. Wood
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 262

Get Book Here

Book Description
Shows how small farming communities--the heart and soul of America--are both besieged and determined to survive, and reveals, through vivid storytelling, how the future of America is being played out on the high plains of Kansas.

Endangered Spaces, Enduring Places

Endangered Spaces, Enduring Places PDF Author: Janet M. Fitchen
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429719051
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 293

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Book Description
Rural America as a place and a way of life is undergoing major transformation. The farm crisis and the decline of manufacturing dealt a double blow to the rural economy in the 1980s. Rural communities continue to lose farms, factories, and young people. Rural lands are increasingly being sought as places for vacation homes, state prisons, and waste dumps. Rural people are ambivalent about new residents and activities that are coming in and unsure of their own rural identity. Old assumptions about rural life and rural community are now open to question. Based on years of field observations and hundreds of interviews in fifteen rural counties in upstate New York, Fitchen's book explores these interconnected changes. It describes the financial stress in dairy farming and the efforts families made to hold onto their farms. It records the stunned disbelief and difficult adjustment of rural factory workers and small communities as local plants shut down. The author chronicles the struggles of communities plagued by toxic chemicals in their drinking water and of young families slipping farther into poverty. She reports on some communities that are campaigning to "win" a state prison and others that are protesting against a proposed radioactive waste dump. The book illustrates the persistence of rural ingenuity and determination but argues that these alone cannot solve the problems of rural America. A well-informed federal and state commitment is necessary. With policies and programs appropriate for rural situations, most communities could adapt creatively to the changes, integrate around a new rural identity, and survive into the twenty-first century as enduring social settings for their residents.

Transforming Church in Rural America

Transforming Church in Rural America PDF Author: Shannon O'Dell
Publisher: New Leaf Publishing Group
ISBN: 1614581150
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description
"No matter what size church you are a part of, this book will challenge your traditional thinking, force you to look beyond the status quo, and enable you to grasp a bigger vision of what God has in store for your ministry and your leadership." -Ed Young, Fellowship Church "Shannon O'Dell's passion for the rural church in America is contagious" -Craig Groeschel, LifeChurch.tv Small church buildings dotting the countryside are home to ministries that often struggle with limited attendance, no money, and little expectation that change can revitalize their future. In Transforming Church in Rural America, Pastor Shannon O'Dell shares a powerful vision of relevance, possibility, and excellence for these small churches, or for any ministry that is stuck in a "rural state of mind." The book reveals: how to generate growth through transformed lives ways to create active evangelism in your community no-cost solutions for staffing challenges, enhancing the worship experience, and inspiring volunteers Focusing on vision, attitude, leadership, and innovation, you can learn the practical strategies and biblical guidance that helped to grow a church of 31 into a multi-campus church of several thousand, with a national and global outreach. Discover effective structure and ways to cast God-given vision so others can follow and make an impact. Experience the blueprint for transforming into effective, dynamic, and thriving churches no matter where the location or how small it may be. MORE INFO

Economic Restructuring and Family Well-being in Rural America

Economic Restructuring and Family Well-being in Rural America PDF Author: Kristin E. Smith
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 0271048611
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 414

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Book Description
"A compilation of policy-relevant research by a multidisciplinary group of scholars on the state of families in rural America in the twenty-first century. Examines the impact of economic restructuring on rural Americans and provides policy recommendations for addressing the challenges they face"--Provided by publisher.

Rural Poverty in the United States

Rural Poverty in the United States PDF Author: Ann R. Tickamyer
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231544715
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 456

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Book Description
America's rural areas have always held a disproportionate share of the nation's poorest populations. Rural Poverty in the United States examines why. What is it about the geography, demography, and history of rural communities that keeps them poor? In a comprehensive analysis that extends from the Civil War to the present, Rural Poverty in the United States looks at access to human and social capital; food security; healthcare and the environment; homelessness; gender roles and relations; racial inequalities; and immigration trends to isolate the underlying causes of persistent rural poverty. Contributors to this volume incorporate approaches from multiple disciplines, including sociology, economics, demography, race and gender studies, public health, education, criminal justice, social welfare, and other social science fields. They take a hard look at current and past programs to alleviate rural poverty and use their failures to suggest alternatives that could improve the well-being of rural Americans for years to come. These essays work hard to define rural poverty's specific metrics and markers, a critical step for building better policy and practice. Considering gender, race, and immigration, the book appreciates the overlooked structural and institutional dimensions of ongoing rural poverty and its larger social consequences.

Scarcity and Survival in Central America

Scarcity and Survival in Central America PDF Author: William H. Durham
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 0804765669
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 229

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Book Description
Looking at both population and land tenure dynamics in their historical context, this study challenges the view that the 1969 conflict between El Salvador and Honduras was primarily a response to population pressure. The author demonstrates that land scarcity, a principal cause of the war, was largely a product of the concentration of landholdings. The analysis focuses on the emigration of 300,000 Salvadoreans to Honduras in the years before the war, inquiring into the reasons for the emigration, its impact on local agricultural economies, and its relation to the conflict. Answers to these questions are based on a new interpretation of national statistics and on original survey research in peasant communities. The author has used an interdisciplinary approach, drawing on the perspectives of anthropology, ecology, history, demography, and geography. In addition to its value as a case study in human ecology, this book gives a clear account of the nature and origins of ecological pressures in rural Central America. The book is illustrated with 21 photographs and 7 maps.

American Salvage

American Salvage PDF Author: Bonnie Jo Campbell
Publisher: Wayne State University Press
ISBN: 9780814334126
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description
New from award-winning Michigan writer Bonnie Jo Campbell, American Salvage is rich with local color and peopled with rural characters who love and hate extravagantly. They know how to fix cars and washing machines, how to shoot and clean game, and how to cook up methamphetamine, but they have not figured out how to prosper in the twenty-first century. Through the complex inner lives of working-class characters, Campbell illustrates the desperation of post-industrial America, where wildlife, jobs, and whole ways of life go extinct and the people have no choice but to live off what is left behind. The harsh Michigan winter is the backdrop for many of the tales, which are at turns sad, brutal, and oddly funny. One man prepares for the end of the world--scheduled for midnight December 31, 1999--in a pole barn with chickens and survival manuals. An excruciating burn causes a man to transcend his racist and sexist worldview. Another must decide what to do about his meth-addicted wife, who is shooting up on the other side of the bathroom door. A teenaged sharpshooter must devise a revenge that will make her feel whole again. Though her characters are vulnerable, confused, and sometimes angry, they are also resolute. Campbell follows them as they rebuild their lives, continue to hope and dream, and love in the face of loneliness. Fellow Michiganders, fans of short fiction, and general readers will enjoy this poignant and affecting collection of tales.

Left Elsewhere

Left Elsewhere PDF Author: Elizabeth Catte
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 1946511439
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 130

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Book Description
An examination of the emerging rural left, from environmentalists blocking pipeline construction to teachers on strike. In Left Elsewhere, volume editor and lead essayist Elizabeth Catte turns a skeptical eye toward “purple” politicians, such as West Virginia Democrat Richard Ojeda, who are hailed by many as the best hope for U.S. progressives outside the urban coasts. By offering a survey of what the left actually looks like outside major urban centers, Catte shows how an emerging rural left is developing new strategies that do not easily fit into typical ideas of liberals, leftists, and Democratic politics. From environmentalists who successfully block pipeline construction to advocates for “radical” health care solutions such as needle exchanges to school teachers who go on strike, these newly energized activists may offer a better path forward for both policy and candidates to represent the needs of poor and working Americans. By engaging activists and scholars outside the coastal bubbles, this collection offers insights into several overlooked areas, including working-class women's activism, victories in new labor struggle (especially in staunchly right-to-work states) and new organizing principles in Jackson, Mississippi—"America's most radical city"—that are bringing about meaningful racial and economic change on the ground. Taken together, the essays in Left Elsewhere show that today's political language is insufficient to convey what's happening in these areas and examine what, if any, coherent set of politics can be assigned to them. Contributors William J. Barber II, Thomas Baxter, Lesly-Marie Buer, Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson, Nancy Isenberg, Elaine C. Kamarck, Michael Kazin, Toussaint Losier, Robin McDowell, Bob Moser, Hugh Ryan, Matt Stoller, Ruy Teixeira, Makani Themba, Jessica Wilkerson

The Left Behind

The Left Behind PDF Author: Robert Wuthnow
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691195153
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 203

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Book Description
How a fraying social fabric is fueling the outrage of rural Americans What is fueling rural America’s outrage toward the federal government? Why did rural Americans vote overwhelmingly for Donald Trump? And is there a more nuanced explanation for the growing rural-urban divide? Drawing on more than a decade of research and hundreds of interviews, Robert Wuthnow brings us into America’s small towns, farms, and rural communities to paint a rich portrait of the moral order—the interactions, loyalties, obligations, and identities—underpinning this critical segment of the nation. Wuthnow demonstrates that to truly understand rural Americans’ anger, their culture must be explored more fully, and he shows that rural America’s fury stems less from economic concerns than from the perception that Washington is distant from and yet threatening to the social fabric of small towns. Moving beyond simplistic depictions of America’s heartland, The Left Behind offers a clearer picture of how this important population will influence the nation’s political future.

Hollowing Out the Middle

Hollowing Out the Middle PDF Author: Patrick J. Carr
Publisher: Beacon Press
ISBN: 0807042390
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 175

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Book Description
Two sociologists reveal how small towns in Middle America are exporting their most precious resource—young people—and share what can be done to save these dwindling communities In 2001, with funding from the MacArthur Foundation, sociologists Patrick J. Carr and Maria J. Kefalas moved to Iowa to understand the rural brain drain and the exodus of young people from America’s countryside. They met and followed working-class “stayers”; ambitious and college-bound “achievers”; “seekers,” who head off to war to see what the world beyond offers; and “returners,” who eventually circle back to their hometowns. What surprised them most was that adults in the community were playing a pivotal part in the town’s decline by pushing the best and brightest young people to leave. In a timely, new afterword, Carr and Kefalas address the question “so what can be done to save our communities?” They profile the efforts of dedicated community leaders actively resisting the hollowing out of Middle America. These individuals have creatively engaged small town youth—stayers and returners, seekers and achievers—and have implemented a variety of programs to combat the rural brain drain. These stories of civic engagement will certainly inspire and encourage readers struggling to defend their communities.