The Heart of Things: A Midwestern Almanac

By John Hildebrand

"No writer has challenged—and sharpened—my ‘sense of place’ more than John Hildebrand. Throughout these essays—rooted in Wisconsin but relevant the whole world wide—the heart wrestles the mind, and both emerge strengthened. We are lucky to have this man writing on our behalf.” - Michael Perry

In this remarkable book of days, John Hildebrand charts the overlapping rings—home, town, countryside—of life in the Midwest. Like E. B. White, Hildebrand locates the humor and drama in ordinary life: church suppers, Friday night football, outdoor weddings, garden compost, family reunions, roadside memorials, camouflage clothing. In these wry, sharply observed essays, the Midwest isn't The Land Time Forgot but a more complicated (and vastly more interesting) place where the good life awaits once we figure exactly out what it means. From his home range in northwestern Wisconsin, Hildebrand attempts to do just that by boiling down a calendar year to its rich marrow—weather, animals, family, home—in other words, all the things that matter.