America the Beautiful

It is unclear whether Tennessee Williams actually believed that “America has only three cities: New York, San Francisco, and New Orleans” and that “everywhere else is Cleveland.” It seems unlikely. For one thing, the man born Thomas Lanier Williams made “Tennessee” his pen name to acknowledge his Southern origins.

But the idea that the immense non-coastal portion of the country is uninteresting is commonplace nonetheless. For a more verifiable expression of it, refer to cartoonist Saul Steinberg’s 1976 New Yorker cover “View of the World from 9th Avenue.” It’s a humorous caricature of how New York City residents view the rest of the country, yet one that urban elites often live down to. Two years after her election loss, Hillary Clinton bragged that she “won the places that represent two-thirds of America’s gross domestic product . . . the places that are optimistic, diverse, dynamic, moving forward.”

About the Author

Jack Butler

Jack Butler is a former submissions editor at National Review.

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It is unclear whether Tennessee Williams actually believed that “America has only three cities: New York, San Francisco, and New Orleans” and that “everywhere else is Cleveland.” It seems unlikely. For one thing, the man born Thomas Lanier Williams made “Tennessee” his pen name to acknowledge his Southern origins.

But the idea that the immense non-coastal portion of the country is uninteresting is commonplace nonetheless. For a more verifiable expression of it, refer to cartoonist Saul Steinberg’s 1976 New Yorker cover “View of the World from 9th Avenue.” It’s a humorous caricature of how New York City residents view the rest of the country, yet one that urban elites often live down to. Two years after her election loss, Hillary Clinton bragged that she “won the places that represent two-thirds of America’s gross domestic product . . . the places that are optimistic, diverse, dynamic, moving forward.”