Originally presented as the author's thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Michigan, 1995, under title: Home in the Hoosier hills.
Includes bibliographical references (p. [227]-267) and index.
1. The land and its peoples -- 2. Religion and the localist ethic -- 3. "Surplus produce" and market exchange -- 4. The politics of localism -- 5. Localism, race, and the Civil War.
"This book explores the lives and worldviews of Indiana's southern hill-country residents during much of the nineteenth century. Focusing on local institutions - political, economic, and religious - it gives voice to the plain farmers of the region and reveals the world as they saw it. These settlers from the Upland South, Pennsylvania, and Catholic Germany shared a belief that morality was best centered in the local community, its churches, and its families. This belief shaped and was shaped by political ideology, economic activities, and religious doctrines." -- BOOK JACKET.