Feminism in the Heartland tells the story of second-wave feminism. Set in a "typical" American city, Dayton, Ohio, it traces the history of a dynamic, utopian movement that transformed the lives of thousands of women who fought to make their city and country responsive to women's needs. Life stories of fifty-eight activists, woven throughout, give voice to the subjects themselves and transmit to younger generations a feel for what it was like to be a feminist in the 1970s.