Des Moines: How a Corn-Fed Capital Quietly Runs the World (and Pretends It Doesn’t)
Des Moines—capital of Iowa, epicenter of corn, and, improbably, one of the planet’s quietest geopolitical pressure points. To the casual foreign eye, it’s a fly-over city in a fly-over state, best known for butter sculptures and a state fair that looks like an agro-themed Coachella minus the drugs, the bands, and the will to live….