Discovery Building
Presented in partnership with the Wisconsin Book Festival.

In this essential look at the regrowth of the American Midwest, tech journalist Rebecca A. Fannin chronicles her return to America’s heartland, revealing the dramatic entrepreneurial comeback that is transforming the Rust Belt into the Tech Belt.

Change is sweeping across the American heartland. For too long ignored as “flyover country,” the once-mighty Midwest is experiencing a quiet but compelling revolution powered by savvy venture capital, high-tech innovation, entrepreneurial boldness and good old American moxie. What has been known as the Rust Belt is now developing the shine of a tech belt. The former pinnacle of the U.S. economy is making a comeback, which bodes well not only for the heartland but for our economy and morale nationwide.

Rebecca A. Fannin explores this twenty-first century transformation from the inside. And she does it the old-fashioned way—by putting hard miles on her Honda Element and visiting women and men from Flint, Michigan, to Huntington, West Virginia, who are planning, financing and building this latest version of the American Dream. A heartlander herself, Fannin brings readers on an investigative tour that starts in her hometown of Lancaster, Ohio, and takes in six states, dozens of cities and hundreds of enterprises.

Silicon Heartland tells the story of a comeback with personal stories of some of the remarkable people Rebecca meets who are restoring the region’s vibrancy and prosperity with a social and economic turnaround that is diverse, contemporary and solidly realized. What Rebecca discovered on the way—about America, about her family, about herself—is surprising and inspiring and makes her book timely documentation about a reviving economy and also a moving reminder of the importance of family and heritage.

*Food and beverage available for purchase at Steenbock’s on Orchard until 7:30p.