Replay: Steven Conn shares Five Things He's Learned about America’s Urban-Rural Divide – It’s the Geography Stupid
Check out the first five minutes of his recent class.
“Rural isn’t a thing at all. The Census doesn’t define rural—it just defines urban, and rural is whatever’s left over.”
“For at least 150 years, people have used the language of crisis to describe rural America… When was rural America ever great? It never was, because it was always being measured against this unattainable mythology.”
“In 1865, it took 61 hours of human labor to produce an acre of wheat. By 1890, thanks to all kinds of industrial technologies that figure was now three hours.”
“Hillary Clinton won the places where people actually live….Donald Trump won the places where very few people live—where fewer and fewer people live, which are not very well populated at all.”
“We are a Nation of urbanites filled with people who don’t like their cities very much. I think that’s a central American paradox, It’s always been true, but it just gets more and more true.”
– Steven Conn, Five Things I’ve Learned about America’s Urban-Rural Divide – It’s the Geography Stupid
Last week, historian and author Steven Conn joined Five Things I've Learned to share all he’s learned about how Americans value and appreciate the places we inhabit and the futures we can imagine for them.
In Five Things I’ve Learned about America’s Urban-Rural Divide – It’s the Geography Stupid, Steven unpacks the historical roots of today’s political geography and explains how the tensions between urban and rural America took shape. Through his research and lived experience, he offers a nuanced framework for understanding why these divides persist and how they shape the places we call home.
He also invites participants to reconsider familiar assumptions—about cities, about rural life, and about who is really “left behind”—by examining the stories, policies, and cultural narratives that have shaped both. With his clear-eyed approach and engaging style, Steven offers tools to help us see our communities, and the forces influencing them, in a new light.
About Steven: Steven was on the faculty in the history department at Ohio State University since he received his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in 1994. In the spring of 2015, after 21 years at OSU, he became the W. E. Smith Professor of History at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. There he teaches courses in American history
At OSU he created a combined BA/MA degree program in public history and the monthly on-line features magazine “Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective.” In 2021 he helped create a spin-off website in collaboration with Getty images called “Picturing Black History.” Using images from Getty’s vast archive, the site brings to light photos you haven’t seen to tell stories you haven’t heard. Find it here picturingblackhistory.org/
Steven Conn has spoken on a variety of topics around the country and around the world. A popular and engaging speaker, he is on the roster of Distinguished Lecturers at the Organization of American Historians.
Originally from Philadelphia, Steven Conn is now a resident of the funky town of Yellow Springs. There he is active in a variety of civic activities and projects. He served on the Yellow Springs school board from 2014 until 2022. He has also served on the Glen Helen Association Board.
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