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Article ID: CBB046066249

An Engaging and Popular Primary Source: Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm during the Great Depression (2023)

Jeff Bremer (Author)

Agricultural History
Volume: 97
Issue: 4
Pages: 633-637

URI: https://doi.org/10.1215/00021482-10795925

DOI: 10.1215/00021482-10795925

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Great Depression Agriculture History of technology, as a discipline History as a discipline; chronology; study of the past Teaching; pedagogy United States Iowa (U.S.)

I teach an Iowa history class at Iowa State University. In recent years, this course has been online, but I taught it for several years face-to-face. One of the major readings for the class is the memoir of Mildred Armstrong Kalish, Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm during the Great Depression. This is a charming and highly readable primary source that has been popular with my students since I started teaching the class. It is appealing to those who are not history majors. The book ties into important themes of the class such as the transformation of agriculture and rural life in the twentieth century. Kalish's book could easily be used for courses in agricultural history as well as US history. Little Heathens is the story of a lost rural world of small family farms, which has become part of American mythology. The book has many strengths, but even its flaws encourage student discussion and reflection.

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Article Nicole Welk-Joerger; David D. Vail (2023) Introduction: “You Probably Teach Agricultural History, Even If You Don't Know It”. Agricultural History (pp. 610-615). unapi

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