This text investigates the specific economic and social challenges facing the Great Lakes region, focusing on the interconnected nature of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. John P. Blair, an academic with expertise in urban and regional economics, utilizes regional data and historical economic trends to analyze the decline of industrial manufacturing and the subsequent shift toward service-based economies. The book provides a framework for understanding how these six states can coordinate policy to address shared infrastructure, labor, and environmental concerns.

Experts in regional planning and Midwestern economics view this work as a useful synthesis of the structural issues facing the Rust Belt. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which is tailored toward policy analysts and students of regional development.