CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLEBy Richard C. LongworthReviewed by A. J. GoldsmithWhat parts of our Middle West are ready for the challenges of globalization? What parts aren't?Veteran reporter Richard C. Longworth drove more than 11,000 miles throughout the Midwestern states of Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri and Ohio.The result of his journey is a must- read book for our elected and wannabe-public officials, for university and college leaders and for the rest of us, Midwesterners who are "Caught in the Middle."The subtitle is "America's Heartland in the Age of Globalism."In every one of its 14 chapters, Longworth, a retired, award-winning, global correspondent for The Chicago Tribune, slays the dragons that are close to every heart in Middle America and sets out the challenges now facing us."By nature, Midwesterners can be aloof and uncommunicative that nature is hurting them now," the author a native of Boone, Iowa, says.He finds that much of the region is in denial when it comes to coping with the present.Longworth spares no feelings as he lays out what is not being done in Middle America to meet global competition, what is being ignored in this 21st century battle for economic survival and what can be accomplished if state boundaries are ignored, if universities limit competition to athletics broadening cooperation in many other areas and if truly, comprehensive planning is begun.Longworth says: "The Midwest does two things for a living--farming and heavy industry--and globalization has turned both upside down."The author found dying farm towns and crumbling old factory towns. Forget them, he says. Don't throw money at them. Let them go. There is a new economy to prepare for.He spares no sympathy for Detroit and Cleveland, just two of several cities that have withered. He totally writes off many other towns that have seen their manufacturing jobs move first to southern states, then to Mexico and now to China. White collar jobs have moved to India and even to Dominican Republic.Ann Arbor with the University of Michigan's brainpower is the new center for the auto industry, leaving Detroit far behind. Longworth says that Gary, Indiana, is a "slum" where 10 workers produce as much steel as 100 workers did 25 years ago."Indiana people seem to be content to be mediocre people living in mediocre cities," Longworth charges.Dying also are Indiana's auto-industry-dependent cities of Muncie, Anderson, Kokomo and Marion.And then there is Warsaw, Indiana, and Kalamazoo, Michigan, where the production of orthopedics is centered. High school students in Warsaw learn skills that will aid them in the production of orthopedics.Not always negative, Longworth points to Greenville, Michigan, where 2,781 jobs were lost when Electrolux joined other companies that left earlier. Greenville only had 8,000 people. Now the first of six solar-panel plants is under construction and all are expected to be on line by 2010."Hundreds of rural farms are doomed. Small farms sell out when the factory jobs leave. Mega farms take their place."Education is one key to meeting the globalization menace. Factory workers made good money and didn't value education for their children. Some can be retrained; many are too old.Longworth writes that rural whites and urban blacks are globilization's losers; they are a new underclass."The new golden era is open to anyone with education, skills, imagination and creativity."A high school education is minimal, but too much of high school is wasted especially the senior year. Why not let high school students take college courses that prepare them for the global world?Community colleges must play a more important role in educating young people for the global world, retraining laid off workers and, importantly, teaching immigrants without whom, Longworth believes, our economy cannot function. The author cites, as examples, the small meatpacking towns in Iowa."The Midwest needs all the immigrants it can get. This is true of the more educated Asians and Africans and even more true of the uneducated Latinos."Major universities must emphasize research and forget about educating undergraduates leaving that task for the smaller colleges and community colleges."Thirty percent of new jobs require a college or community college degree."To my chagrin, Longworth fails to mention the amazing research that is being conducted by my alma mater, Purdue University, in a number of a different areas.Longworth writes that the top schools need to wean themselves from state support replacing it with corporate and foundation dollars. They need to stop competing in areas where they are not truly competent and stress those areas in which they have the most expertise. They should talk to one another and do what is best for the Midwest in a global environment.State boundaries are artificial, many decreed by the 1787 Northwest Ordinance or set after the Louisiana Purchase. The boundaries make no sense today in a globalized world.He cites the European Union that today has blended Europe's states with a single currency and now allows unencumbered border crossings by EU residents.The historical tensions between rural and urban interests in a state - so well-known to the Chicago metropolitan area- need to go in a time of globalization if there is to be survival. Chicago has more in common with Milwaukee than it does with such Illinois cities as Vandalia, Danville or Rock Island. Legislators seeking to balance interests within a state are doomed to failure and will never be able to meet globalization's challenge. It is better that elected officials look beyond their borders to solve interstate solutions to such mutual problems as rapid mass transit and acquiring global businesses.There is little reason for each state in the Midwest to have individual offices seeking business in China. It would be much better if they pooled their efforts on behalf of the entire area.As America looks forward to a 2009 presidential election, Longworth comments on the political mindset."In all Midwestern states like Iowa and Wisconsin, post election maps showed vast seas of rural red surrounding a few blue islands Chicago, Milwaukee, Iowa City, Cleveland and other big cities and college towns.""The farther away an American lives from a city, the more likely he or she is to vote republican.""Caught in the Middle" may be redundant at times, but that is because Longworth met similar problems and attitudes in the areas he visited and mindsets that were distressingly similar.I thought that Longworth could have spent a little more time in Wisconsin. Maybe it was too cold?Caught in the Middle. Published by Bloomsbury, USA. 20081058 words