The Haunt of Home: A Journey Through America’s Heartland, the latest narrative nonfiction from Zachary Michael Jack, is now available from Cornell University Press and Northern Illinois University Press. 

“Whether interviewing an Illinois casket-maker, an Iowa pastry chef, a retired Kansas banker, his farmer father, or just himself, Jack touches on the universal experience of exploring alternatives while understanding ourselves. He suggests we avoid abstract, distant, and often urban agendas, and preserve the home places which ultimately define us.”

David Pichaske, author of Bones of Bricks and Mortar

“This story of fatalism on the prairie is seamlessly grounded in references to American art, literature, and movies and to communal fatalism in classical literature. In this way, Zachary Jack’s experiences become universal, extending far beyond Middle America.”

James Ballowe, author of A Man of Salt and Trees

“Often beautiful and insightful.”

Anna Clark, author of The Poisoned City

“Jack makes a persuasive and elegant argument for the Middle American Gothic, detailed by writers and artists native to the region. Repression, hypocrisy, and empty righteousness play out in the wide-open landscape, pitted against the human inclination for passion. Much of this book rings true.”

Maurice Manning, author of Railsplitter