Flyover lives

Diane Johnson always dreamed of floating down the Mississippi and off to see the world. Years later, at home in France, a French friend teases her 'Indifference to history.' In digging around, she discovers letters and memoirs written by generations of stalwart pioneer ancestors that testify to more complex and fascinating times that the derisive nickname 'the flyover' gives the region credit for. Johnson captures the magnetic pull of home against the desire for escape and reinvention of self.