This collection of essays, memoirs, journalism, fiction, and poetry shines a light on the common ground Chicago shares with the Rust Belt. Chicago is built on a foundation of meat and railroads and steel, but its identity long ago stretched past manufacturing. A city of opportunity from the get-go, it continues to lure new residents from around the world, and from across a region rocked by recession and deindustrialization.. A city defined by movement that's the anchor of the Midwest, bound to its neighbors by a shared ecosystem and economy, Chicago's complicated – both of the Belt and beyond it. The contributors include: Kevin Coval, Mark Guarino, Sonya Huber, Britt Julious, Kari Lydersen, Chloe Taft, and many more.