Publisher's Synopsis
Richard FloridaÆs The Rise of the Creative Class famously celebrated the wave of highly productive and creative workers moving to key cities for arts, culture, diversity, and tolerance. But what happens to those towns and rural outposts that the Creative Class left behind? ThatÆs the question sociologists Patrick Carr and Maria Kefalas set out to answer in Hollowing out the Middle, an intimate and provocative look at the largely unknown challenges facing the depopulating middle of the nation. In order to understand why the region is shrinking, Carr and Kefalas lived for 18 months in a town they call Ellis, a community in northeastern Iowa that is struggling to survive. They came to know and understand the choices made by people who have left Ellis, as well as why others decided to leave and return, or simply stay on. They find that towns like Ellis collude in the rural brain drain, cultivating and encouraging those who leave, and simultaneously under-investing in those who stay. Although they conclude that there is hope for the rebuilding of AmericaÆs small towns, the future will have to look very different from the present.
