The Mid-Atlantic Region, including Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, is home to the crossroads of northeastern America, a nexus between New England, the Midwest, and the South. Furthermore, the region possesses incredible cultural diversity ranging from urban metropolises to shore communities to pastoral villages to Rust Belt towns. The Mid-Atlantic states are home to Iroquois tales and Washington Irving's literary legends; the Hudson River School of painting as well as the SoHo art community; the Adirondack mountains and the Cheasapeake Bay ecosystem; Amish barns and modernist skyscrapers; music ranging from New York punk to DC hardcore and to Pennsylvania polka to Bruce Springsteen; Philly cheesestakes and Maryland crabcakes; the traditional sport of lacrosse, the cradle of quarterbacks, and the Subway Series. This volume contains thirteen overview chapters that present an impressive survey of the many ways in which the Mid-Atlantic has exemplified both mixing pot and salad bowl within the American experience.

The Greenwood Encyclopedia of American Regional Cultures is the first rigorous reference collection on the many ways in which American identity has been defined by its regions and its people. Each of its eight regional volumes presents thoroughly researched narrative chapters on Architecture; Art; Ecology & Environment; Ethnicity; Fashion; Film & Theater; Folklore; Food; Language; Literature; Music; Religion; and Sports & Recreation. Each book also includes a volume-specific introduction, as well as a series foreword by noted regional scholar and former National Endowment for the Humanities chairman William Ferris, who served as Consulting Editor for this encyclopedia.