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  • Barnstorming the Prairies: How Aerial Vision Shaped the Midwest by Jason Weems
  • Matt Dooley
Barnstorming the Prairies: How Aerial Vision Shaped the Midwest. By Jason Weems. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2015. vii + 325 pp. Illustrations, notes, bibliography, index. $35.00 paper.

In his book, Jason Weems explores the role that aerial vision played in shaping the people and landscape of the Midwest from the beginning of the twentieth century to the end of the Second World War. His specialty in art history, along with a deep understanding of geography, architecture, and planning, provides a well-rounded and thoughtful treatment of the topic that is truly multidisciplinary and relevant to any student or resident of the Great Plains. It is well written and beautifully designed with sixteen high-quality color plates and over 100 black-and-white figures.

The book begins with a provocative introduction that defines key concepts and demonstrates a deep connection between aerial vision and being midwestern. Here, Weems dives deep, providing relevant cultural theory that links aerial vision to hegemonic power structures, objectified landscapes, and a false sense of control or domination.

He next turns to efforts aimed at producing aerial views before aerial photography was available. He discusses bird’s-eye view drawings that increased in popularity after the Civil War, as well as the creation of state and regional atlases.

In the following chapter, titled “Managerial Mosaics,” he provides a thorough discussion about the introduction of aerial photography and the establishment of government aerial photography programs throughout the Midwest. In this chapter, Weems provides an excellent review of survey photography programs and makes a strong case for how the introduction and normalization of aerial photography helped reshape rural culture in the Midwest and Great Plains.

Next, he explores how the aerial view was adapted and reimagined by considering the work and legacy of Grant Wood. A glimpse into Wood’s military past working with camouflage and aerial photographs, along with rich descriptions of his paintings, make for an engaging and thought-provoking chapter.

Finally, Weems considers how areal vision influenced urban planning in the Midwest and Great Plains by highlighting the work of Frank Lloyd Wright. He provides a detailed discussion of Wright’s views toward the centralized city as well as his Broadacre City plan, largely based upon Jeffersonian idealism.

This book is a valuable resource for anyone interested in the Great Plains. It is also important for anyone working with geospatial technology such as remote sensing or geographic information systems (gis). Though seldom acknowledged, a disassociation with place, or [End Page 68] what Weems refers to as “the authoritarian fantasy of the all-seeing” (xv), is deeply embedded in the underlying assumptions that drive most modern geographic information analysis.

Matt Dooley
Department of Geography and GIS
University of Wisconsin-River Falls
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