Best of the Rust Belt

Name: Best of the Rust Belt
Author: Anne Trubek, Anna Clark

The best personal essays from a contested region, from Belt Publishing’s ten years as a press.

Many have an opinion on what the Rust Belt is. It’s the "blue wall," "Trump country," the "flyover states," or the “real America.” Or maybe, as our own president has said, it's a place that no longer exists called by a name that has long outlived its usefulness. But undeniably, there’s something that connects the region. Maybe the question isn’t what defines that connection, but who.

Over the past ten years, Belt Publishing has been putting out books that prioritize the voices of the many people who live here. We’ve collected our favorite writing from our dozens of anthologies, from Pittsburgh to Gary, Chicago to St. Louis, Milwaukee to Cleveland, and more, documenting growing up in segregated St. Louis and elucidating the coded Islamophobia of southern Michigan. Featuring LaToya Ruby Frazier, Connie Schultz, Brian Broome, Megan Stielstra, Vivian Gibson, Aaron Foley, Kathleen Rooney, Sarah Kendzior, Phil Christman, and more.

Anne Trubek, Anna Clark

Anne Trubek is the founder and publisher of Belt Publishing and Belt Magazine. She is the editor of Voices From The Rust Belt (Picador, 2018), the author of The History and Uncertain Future of Handwriting (Bloomsbury, 2016) and A Skeptic's Guide To Writers' Houses (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010), and has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and numerous other publications. Prior to founding Belt she was Associate Professor of English at Oberlin College.