I picked up this book right around the time Liz and I decided to get serious about looking for a house to buy in our neighborhood in Indianapolis (we found one; we live there now). I’d never thought about Indiana history as anything other than boring and compulsory, but I enjoyed this one. I was raised in Indiana, and so reading stories from Indiana’s past and learning about the “Hoosier character” helped me think about myself as part of a larger group. The politics make a bit more sense now, and the way people behave can be seen as a result of our specific history. Learning the history, and how different things used to be, also helps me be hopeful for how things might change in the near future.

If you’re looking for a book about Indiana history; I thought this one was great.