But the midwestern town was depicted somewhat differently. It was an “inheritor of values of a mythological founding generation” and a “battleground for the characteristics and actualization of those values,” with the result that it “became the center of a conflict about the future of the country itself.”

. In lieu of nostalgia — which would feel naïve — an unsettling aimlessness prevails. It’s heavy to bear witness to, and the locals have developed unceremonious grit in response.

Yet I didn’t sense a worry that things had gone awry; in fact, it was by passing through these communities that I accessed an emotion at the core of conservatism: why would I change anything?