An insightful take on the Tarot through the lens of the industrial Midwest, and a beautiful piece of nature writing in its own right. What can the Tarot tell us about the flora and fauna of the industrial Midwest? In what ways might this ancient practice connect us to the Rust Belt today? Rust Belt Arcana uses the Tarot’s time-tested structure to answer these questions, juxtaposing the characteristics of the cards with the creatures and plants that surround us every day. The 22 idiosyncratic essays here—one for every card in the Major Arcana—bridge biology, natural history, and the human condition. They tell stories of abundance and loss, and they remind us of the Rust Belt’s persistent remnant wilderness, a landscape often dismissed as unremarkable. A magical book both for Tarot enthusiasts and for those who are seeking to see beauty in a beleaguered landscape and define their remarkable place within it.

A young bear--The Fool--is cast off from its mother in the spring to wander a fragmented suburban forest, to be harried by dogs and traffic, chased through golf courses and farms. An ocean-going trout climbs industrial, sewage-tainted rivers in the Midwest. The river is both sick and healthy, the trout, understood here as The Magician, is both wild and made. What does the Tarot have to tell us about the flora and fauna of the industrial Midwest? Rust Belt Arcana uses this time-tested structure to explain, juxtaposing the characteristics of the cards of the Tarot's Major Arcana to the creatures and plants around us. The idiosyncratic essays that result connect biology and natural history to the human condition; they are stories of abundance and loss, limning the persistent remnant wilderness of the Rust Belt. Exploring this natural history helps us to see beauty in a beleaguered landscape often dismissed as unremarkable, and to define our remarkable place in it.

Chicago is built on a foundation of meat and railroads and steel, on opportunity and exploitation – but its identity long ago stretched past manufacturing. Today, the city continues to lure new residents from around the world, and from across a region rocked by recession and deindustrialization. But the problems that plague the region don't disappear once you pass the Indiana border. In fact, they're often amplified. A city defined by movement that's the anchor of the Midwest, bound to its neighbors by a shared ecosystem and economy, Chicago's complicated – both of the Rust Belt and beyond it. Rust Belt Chicago collects essays, journalism, fiction, and poetry from more than fifty writers who speak both directly and elliptically to the concerns the city shares with the region at large, and the elements that set it apart. With affection and curiosity, frustration, anger, and joy, the writers sing to each other like the bird on the cover. At times the song sings in harmony and at others sounds in notes of strategic dissonance. But taken as a whole, this book sings one song, responding to one cacophonous city.

The Rust Belt Vegan Kitchen is a community cookbook created by professional and home chefs living and working in the Rust Belt. Recipes represent the diversity of the region, and include vegan versions of Polish pierogis, Detroit coney dogs, Hungarian paprikash, Slovak kolaches, Mexican conchas, West African peanut stew, German sauerkraut balls, Cincinnati chili, Slovenian fish fry, chitterings, and many more. The cooks and chefs offer stories about their recipes, including family history, culinary traditions, and personal narratives explaining how they were created.The book also contains resources on how to stock a vegan pantry, guides to useful equipment, and basic how-to's for "veganizing" staples. Infusing old world recipes with a new level of creativity for a changing audience, the Rust Belt Vegan Kitchen is unpretentious, accessible, and fun.

A fierce, unyielding memoir of queer self-discovery in '90s Cleveland

School’s out for the end of the world. Anna and the Apocalypse is a horror comedy about a teenager who faces down a zombie apocalypse with a little help from her friends. Anna Shepherd is a straight-A student with a lot going on under the surface: she’s struggling with her mom’s death, total friend drama, and the fallout from wasting her time on a very attractive boy. She’s looking forward to skipping town after graduation—but then a zombie apocalypse majorly disrupts the holidays season. It’s going to be very hard to graduate high school without a brain. To save the day, Anna, her friends, and her frenemies will have to journey straight to the heart of one of the most dangerous places ever known, a place famous for its horror, terror, and pain...high school. This novel is inspired by the musical feature film, Anna and the Apocalypse—sing and slay along at home with the VOD release! An Imprint Book

Part of Belt's Neighborhood Guidebook Series, The Chicago Neighborhood Guidebook is an intimate exploration of the Windy City's history and identity. "Required reading"-- The Chicago Tribune Officially,

How does humility feature as a part of human experience, and how can opportunities to decenter the self empower us through present day circumstances? Radical Humility is a collection of essays written by people attempting to be humble at a time when public humility is scarce. Contributors come from a diverse group of experts, activists, makers, scholars, and practitioners: philosophers, psychologists, artists; a librarian, a farmer, a lawyer, a U.S. Navy Captain, and others who've reflected upon the role of humility. Some are leading scholars in their field; others are as-yet unpublished writers. All--the farmer, the librarian, the journalist, the sailor--speak to the ordinary everyday actions that offer significant opportunity for restraint and reflection to empower us personally and politically. For every person who feels uneasy and diminished after subjecting the most intimate parts of their lives to Likes and Followers, and for every person who is uneasy with presidential boasting and disregard for truth, Radical Humility's writers' perspectives are crucial at this turning point in our personal and political lives. Contributors: Aaron Ahuvia, Russell Belk, Charles M. Blow, Richard C. Boothman, Agnes Callard, Lynette Clemetson, Tyler Denmead, Nadia Danienta, Mickey Duzyj, Kevin Em, Eranda Jayawickreme, Kevin Hamilton, Eranda Jayawickreme, Troy Jollimore, Melissa Koenig, Aric Rindfleisch, Valerie Tiberius, and Ami Walsh

"There's a long drive. It's gonna be. I believe. The Giants win the pennant. The Giants win the pennant. The Giants win the pennant. The Giants win the pennant." -- Russ Hodges, October 3, 1951 On the fiftieth anniversary of "The Shot Heard Round the World," Don DeLillo reassembles in fiction the larger-than-life characters who on October 3, 1951, witnessed Bobby Thomson's pennant-winning home run in the bottom of the ninth inning. Jackie Gleason is razzing Toots Shor in Leo Durocher's box seats; J. Edgar Hoover, basking in Sinatra's celebrity, is about to be told that the Russians have tested an atomic bomb; and Russ Hodges, raw-throated and excitable, announces the game -- the Giants and the Dodgers at the Polo Grounds in New York. DeLillo's transcendent account of one of the iconic events of the twentieth century is a masterpiece of American sportswriting.

In 2016, headlines declared Appalachia ground zero for America's "forgotten tribe" of white working class voters. Journalists flocked to the region to extract sympathetic profiles of families devastated by poverty, abandoned by establishment politics, and eager to consume cheap campaign promises. What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia is a frank assessment of America's recent fascination with the people and problems of the region. The book analyzes trends in contemporary writing on Appalachia, presents a brief history of Appalachia with an eye toward unpacking Appalachian stereotypes, and provides examples of writing, art, and policy created by Appalachians as opposed to for Appalachians. The book offers a must-needed insider's perspective on the region.