Book excerpt: In this work Cheryl Herr uses architect Kenneth Frampton's idea of critical regionalism to describe a comparative methodology for cultural studies. Demonstrating a process of oscillating perspectives - moving from a "subject" location to an "object" social scene and back again - she details the impact of both immediate social forces and behind-the-scenes institutions on two "heartlands": rural Ireland and the American Midwest. She also provides the tools to understand symmetrical historical/global patterns in Ireland and the Midwest. Herr strongly supports a crosscultural approach in which every issue is framed by its role in a hierarchy of increasingly global economic institutions. At the same time, she considers the representation of crisis on the local level. She uses creative "found" and "forced" assemblages to illustrate historical processes and provides a strong case for a larger place in the university curriculum for a crosscultural studies methodology.