Colin Woodard

A history of North America's 11 rival cultural regions challenges popular perceptions about the red state-blue state conflict, tracing lingering tensions stemming from disparate intranational values that have shaped every major event in history. By the author of Ocean's End. 25,000 first printing.

A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America

American Nations

Chris Aldrich

A fascinating read and a phenomenal re-framing of American History. It's more interesting to review our history from the beginning forward than from the present back in the common attempt to place us all in a more homogenous country. Most children are taught a much more broad-based and definitively white-washed version of our history from the present looking backwards and re-framing it to explain who we ought to be where as this version frames who we were from a broader regional perspective to explain who we are as a nation now. I definitely like this version better. While it does include some snippets of history throughout, this book presumes a bit of prior US history knowledge for recreating its re-framing of individual areas.

I'd give my left arm to see a high school textbook version of US history as taught from the point of view this books basic thesis.

Having a better perspective on the deep south and its historical roots certainly helps a lot. I'm much more suspicious of the phrase "State's rights" as a dog whistle for both controlling and racist policies now.

There were some interesting snippets of history I hadn't read in other texts before which also added to some of the excellent color of the book.

Overall an eye-opening experience. I'd highly recommend this as a great general history book for all Americans and those who want to understand our past as well as our present a lot better.

Kerry Gibbons

perhaps my favorite part of this book was the fact that Georgia (when it was still a colony) had laws prohibiting alcohol and lawyers because both lead to the demoralization of society.

Entertaining!

Faheem Kajee

Super interesting to think about North America and the US as a set of different “nations” that we’re shaped by the people who landed in each place and the circumstances with which they dealt. So much of the culture today in different parts of America can be explained by this.

An illuminating history of North America's eleven rival cultural regions that explodes the red state-blue state myth. North America was settled by people with distinct religious, political, and ethnographic characteristics, creating regional cultures that have been at odds with one another ever since. Subsequent immigrants didn't confront or assimilate into an “American” or “Canadian” culture, but rather into one of the eleven distinct regional ones that spread over the continent each staking out mutually exclusive territory. In American Nations, Colin Woodard leads us on a journey through the history of our fractured continent, and the rivalries and alliances between its component nations, which conform to neither state nor international boundaries. He illustrates and explains why “American” values vary sharply from one region to another. Woodard (author of American Character: A History of the Epic Struggle Between Individual Liberty and the Common Good) reveals how intranational differences have played a pivotal role at every point in the continent's history, from the American Revolution and the Civil War to the tumultuous sixties and the "blue county/red county" maps of recent presidential elections. American Nations is a revolutionary and revelatory take on America's myriad identities and how the conflicts between them have shaped our past and are molding our future.

Martin Aasholm

D VA

Mher Alaverdyan

Justin Jerome Price

• A New Republic Best Book of the Year • The Globalist Top Books of the Year • Winner of the Maine Literary Award for Non-fiction • Particularly relevant in understanding who voted for who in this presidential election year, this is an endlessly fascinating look at American regionalism and the eleven “nations” that continue to shape North America According to award-winning journalist and historian Colin Woodard, North America is made up of eleven distinct nations, each with its own unique historical roots. In American Nations he takes readers on a journey through the history of our fractured continent, offering a revolutionary and revelatory take on American identity, and how the conflicts between them have shaped our past and continue to mold our future. From the Deep South to the Far West, to Yankeedom to El Norte, Woodard (author of American Character: A History of the Epic Struggle Between Individual Liberty and the Common Good) reveals how each region continues to uphold its distinguishing ideals and identities today, with results that can be seen in the composition of the U.S. Congress or on the county-by-county election maps of any hotly contested election in our history.

American Nations A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America

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