5285. Iowa The Middle Land, by Dorothy Schwieder (read 14 June 2015) Even though as recently as 19 Feb 2015 I read Leland Sage's history of Iowa, when I learned of this book I wanted to read it. Sage's book only goes to 1974 and deals mostly with political history. This book was published in 1996 and deals mainly with social and economic history--usually not the kind of history which I appreciate, but I found when it dealt with Iowa and so much I was familiar with, it was of great interest, maybe because I have lived through over half the time that Iowa has been a state. I did not think the book was overly well-researched, but so much that it relates was pertinent to my memory that I nevertheless found the book absorbing. It gave context to particularly the early years of my time in Iowa. ( )