by Richard Sharum (Author)
In Spina Americana (American Spine in Latin), Sharum attempts to determine what the people, and their land,
of the Central US have to do with contributing towards what he considers to be the 'national character' of the US.
In this current political climate, where seclusion and division have gained the upper hand in the national psyche, it is Sharum's aim to find the unifying elements not only as Americans, but as a people.
He wanted
to see if this region could hold the key to other Americans having a better understanding of who America is as a country and what remains of the collective hope they still have as a nation. Sharum felt this could only be accomplished using a spectrum of long-term documentation, highlighting the overall complexity
of what is generally assumed about this area.