Call-for-Proposals: THE MODERN MIDWEST, 1989-2025

In recent years, Middle West Review has published articles, essays, and symposia which highlight the region’s history during the nineteenth-century, the immediate decades after World War II, and the Cold War era. The journal now seeks proposals for articles and essays which focus on the decades after the fall of the Berlin wall. Nearly four decades have passed since the end of the Cold War and it is time for historians to explore the history of these years as they relate to the American Midwest. Topics could include, but are not limited to, mass media depictions of the Midwest; rural adjustments to the 1980s farm crisis; new developments in foreign policy views in the region after the demise of the Soviet Union; politics and political campaigns; the Dole and Obama presidential campaigns; new forms of work in the digital era; opposition and support for environmental movements; new forms of work and labor activism; new immigrants; the fall of Midwestern newspapers; cultural regionalism and its various manifestations; conflicts between local culture and mass/coastal culture; literary developments and intellectual history; the debate over globalization and international trade; race relations; the Midwest and the 9/11 era; the Midwest and neoliberalism; the impact of social media; etc. Proposals of roughly 300 words and a vita should be sent to MWR@USD.EDU by March 15, 2026 for consideration by Middle West Review editors. If a proposal is accepted, the final article of 4,500 words would be due by January 1, 2027 for publication in a later issue of Middle West Review. Applicants are advised to review past issues of Middle West Review and past symposia in particular to better understand the journal’s style and formatting and topical coverage over the past decade.