On the Front Porch with Tony Pipa and Brent Orrell: A conversation with Steven Conn about ‘The Lies of the Land’

Contemporary differences between rural and urban areas in America have their roots in long-term demographic, economic, technological, and social factors. In this event series, Tony Pipa (Brookings) and Brent Orrell (American Enterprise Institute) host conversations “On the Front Porch” with authors of recent research on issues facing rural America. These discussions explore the unique challenges and opportunities facing rural America and consider policy options to promote development and opportunity outside the nation’s major metropolitan areas.  

In this conversation, Pipa and Orrell will be “on the front porch” with Steven Conn, whose recent book “The Lies of the Land: Seeing Rural America for What It Is—and Isn’t” demystifies rural America, inviting us to dispense with the lies and half-truths many believe about it and to pursue better solutions to the challenges shared across the nation. Conn shows that rural America—so often characterized as in crisis or in danger of being left behind—has actually been at the center of modern American history, shaped by the same forces as everywhere else in the country: militarization, industrialization, corporatization, and suburbanization. 

Please join us in person at Brookings or online. Viewers are welcome to submit questions via email to [email protected] and via X (Twitter) to @BrookingsGlobal using #OntheFrontPorch.