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

[DUB]

Anyone else read this book? I finished reading it over the weekend, and found it deeply fascinating. I feel like I understand your country much more than I previously did. Why is your society so divided? How can you have such radically conflicting views? Now I know.

 

[wizenheimer]

it looks interesting

 

[DUB]

I think it’s essential reading for anyone trying to understand the fractured nature of American society.

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.

 

[DUB]

 

[julius]

I downloaded it for my audible app, thanks for the tip.

 

[wizenheimer]

there was a wildly left wing book a few decades ago called Ecotopia. The left coast secedes from the union. I couldn't get past the first few chapters because it was way too Good-Ship-Lollypop-Tom-Robbins-Richard-Brautigan-Dr-Seuss-Alfred-E-Neuman.....yeah, that's accurate

anyway, I've fantasized a few times since then about Oregon, Washington, California, & British Columbia forming their own country. Of course, we'd take along Nevada, Hawaii, Baja, and Alaska so we'd have sin and a variety of vacation destinations. We'd have the best sport fishing in the world too

still sounds good to me

 

[DUB]

there was a wildly left wing book a few decades ago called Ecotopia. The left coast secedes from the union. I couldn't get past the first few chapters because it was way too Good-Ship-Lollypop-Tom-Robbins-Richard-Brautigan-Dr-Seuss-Alfred-E-Neuman.....yeah, that's accurate

anyway, I've fantasized a few times since then about Oregon, Washington, California, & British Columbia forming their own country. Of course, we'd take along Nevada, Hawaii, Baja, and Alaska so we'd have sin and a variety of vacation destinations. We'd have the best sport fishing in the world too

still sounds good to me

There’s nothing about the USA that says it has to stay together. The citizens of the Roman Empire thought it inevitable that it would always be (the city of Rome is even called the Eternal City) they were wrong. The sun never set on the British Empire, now it’s so reduced even Scotland wants to break away. The USSR thought that communism would dominate the world, now it’s former territories are openly against Russia. There’s nothing so special about the USA that makes it destined to be united forever. The differences in the multiple North American cultures are real, and the fractures are widening every day.