Middle America (United States)

[citation needed] Middle America is contrasted with the more culturally progressive, urban areas of the country, particularly, those of the East and West Coasts.

Similarly, the protagonist of John Grisham's novel The Associate leaves a well-paid job at a giant Wall Street law firm and goes to work with his lawyer father in his hometown, York, Pennsylvania.

The same applies to the episode of Ayn Rand's novel The Fountainhead which is set in Clayton, Ohio[3] and which depicts that town as the archetype of "Middle America", the polar opposite of the cosmopolitan New York City where most of the novel's plot takes place.

However, across the United States and more recently in the South, metropolitan areas and major university towns tend to be politically and socially progressive.

Examples of such metropolitan areas include Kansas City, Missouri; Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis, Indiana; and Minneapolis, Minnesota, and major university towns include Madison, Wisconsin; Champaign, Illinois; Bloomington, Indiana; Carbondale, Illinois; Lawrence, Kansas; Athens, Ohio; and Ann Arbor, Michigan.