Pages 83-111 Summary and Analysis

In "Getting Away From Already Pretty Much Being Away From It All" Wallace describes being sent to the Illinois State Fair on assignment from Harper's Magazine. Wallace believes the magazine sent him because he is a native of the area and can offer some insight into the place's anthropology to the mainly East Coast audience.

A week before the fair opens, Wallace arrives to pick up his press credentials. Before the press briefing, he encounters two older woman who report for a horticultural magazine and believe Wallace is there from Harper's Bazaar instead of Harper's and tell him they love the magazine's recipes.

On the tour, Wallace and the rest of the press are driven around the fairgrounds on an ethanol powered tractor. Eventually they are taken to a tent where the First Lady of Illinois, Brenda Edgar, and...