Hard Times in Middletown, USA

Available for over a year

Stephen Smith finds out how the city of Muncie in Indiana reflects the impact of the economic crisis on the American middle class. In 1929, the Rockefeller Institute published Middletown: A Study in Modern American Culture, a scientific study of a 'typical American city' which examined church, school, family and work in Muncie. The book was an instant hit and is still in print. It launched Muncie's reputation as the most widely studied small town in the world. Today it is a rust-belt city grappling with de-industrialisation and deepening recession. A co-production with American RadioWorks for BBC Radio 4.