David Pichaske is Professor of English at Southwest Minnesota State University. He is the author of many books, several related to rural literature and themes, including Rooted: Six Midwest Writers of Place. He has published on a range of subjects from rock music and American culture to T.S. Eliot and Chaucer. A three-time Fulbright Lecturer to Central Europe and Outer Mongolia, Pichaske is the author of Poland in Transition: 1989-1991. As editor of Spoon River Poetry Press, Pichaske has published Leo Dangel, Bill Holm, Norbert Blei, Linda Hasselstrom, Bill Kloefkorn, and Dave Etter, among significant rural writers. He first published on Dylan in 1972.

• Foreword; Introduction: Bob Dylan and the Midwest; 1. Dylan's Songs of the North Country; 2. "And the Language That He Used"; 3. Bob Dylan and the Pastoral Tradition; 4. Going Out / Coming Back; 5. Bob Dylan's Prairie Populism; 6. The Prophet and His Mission; 7. "Ain't Talkin'" - A Postscript; Works Cited; Index.

"Pichaske (English, Southwest Minnesota State Univ.) offers an interesting exploration of how Dylan's early years in Minnesota influenced his songs and writings. [...] The author is steeped in Dylan's voluminous compositions and other writings, and in the literary legacies of the Midwest, and he uses all this material to good effect.  Adding a significant title to the corpus of Dylan studies is not an easy task, but Pichaske succeeds.  Including helpful notes and an extensive but far from inclusive bibliography, this book fits into the literature of both popular music and literary studies." -R.D. Cohen, CHOICE, September 2010