American Nations

A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America

By: Colin Woodard

Narrated by: Walter Dixon

Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

An illuminating history of North America's 11 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 11 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 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.

©2011 Colin Woodward (P)2011 Gildan Media Corp

Critic reviews

"Woodard offers a fascinating way to parse American (writ large) politics and history in this excellent book." ( Kirkus)

"Woodard explains away partisanship in American Nations... which makes the provocative claim that our culture wars are inevitable. North America was settled by groups with distinct political and religious value - and we haven't had a moment's peace since." ( Publishers Weekly)

Must listen

a necessary read to get a perspective of our current state of affairs in the USA

Good History, Bad Finish

Great description of the colonial history of North America and US through the Civil War, but then it degrades to a binary left-right monologue with obvious progressivism bias. The last hour of the recording is a complete waste of time, ending with a weird sermon promoting hunter-gatherer environmentalism and feminism.

Who knew the US of A was a conglomeration

This was a wonderfully informative remixing of the history of the North American continent. Though it concentrated on the US it also compared us to both our Northern & Southern neighbors showing the overall impact of our mutually dependent societies. It was filled with an ENORMOUS amount of information we were never taught in school. And made our regional differences much more understandable.
The reader did an excellent job of communicating an at times rather dense discussion of the interaction of heritage, politics & philosophy.
My one quibble is the far out & some silly 'epilogue'

Gives great insight into our divisions

If you've wondered what in blazes is going on in our country, this will help you understand. We are not a "melting pot," we're much more like the former USSR & the divergent European nations that have been blowing themselves apart for the last several decades. I was appalled by some of the material, and I can't say it gave me hope for America's future, but things make more sense now.

Interesting, if you can handle the narration

I liked this book aside from the fact that it seems like Siri is reading it to me. I think I would have been better suited picking up a physical copy on this one.

Makes sense of voting craziness

this has to be the most interesting and informative book I've read during this crazy election year.

Required reading for All Americans

This book is so insightful. It explains SO MUCH about why the United States is the way it is - the truth about our origins, our values, voting blocks. This book should be required reading in HS and again in college. If only ALL Americans read this book we would understand each other.

Full of amazing historical insight!

This is an involved look at North American history from what seems to be an unbiased description, unlike the sanitized versions most of us have been taught. At almost every sentence I was thinking to myself "Wow--so THAT'S why..." I want to get the hard copy so I can visually review and digest some of the more in-depth chapters of this book. A must read for anyone wishing to find perspective on current political and religious forces at work on our continent.

Excellent chronology of American history

Dry material made drier by a mono tonal narrator. Still well worth the listen - frightening in content given the times.

A Lot of Interesting Context

I work in public policy and politics and this really does help to contextualize a lot of cultural underpinnings to the harmful or baffling legal and administrative decisions that the government has often made.

Understanding how the United States is built from so many disparate movements that colonized various geographic areas that just grew and grew till they all layered on top of one another and started getting into fights and arguments over decisions were there often was no middle ground.

When one group sees themselves as the cultured elite, another sees themselves as humble servants of a godly community, another as lone wolf mountain people, over there are the imperialistic slave drivers, and on and on they are all so far apart in their ways of thinking that it is no wonder American politics is schizophrenic.