Historian considers government's role in Midwest development

Eric J. Morser, assistant professor of history, is the author of Hinterland Dreams-The Political Economy of a Midwestern City (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010). 

Morser focuses on La Crosse, Wisc., to demonstrate how "government institutions and policies combined with small cities to play a critical role in the Midwest's commercial history before 1900," according to his prologue.

Punctuated with intriguing portraits of La Crosse's early citizens, Hinterland Dreams suggests a new way to understand the Midwest's urban past, one that has its roots in the small but vibrant cities that dotted the landscape. By mapping the richly textured political economy of La Crosse before 1900, the book highlights how the American state provided hinterland Midwesterners with potent tools to build cities and help define their region's history in profound and lasting ways.

Read more about the book at the publisher's Web site.

Morser came to Skidmore in 2009 as the College's early American historian. He received a Ph.D. in history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2003, and previously taught at the University of New Mexico, the University of Florida, and Shippensberg University. His work concerns state-building and the frontier in the early 19th-century United States.