Jordan Blake Carter

History books like to start with ships, flags, and a man who got lost and called it discovery. But the real story of America begins long before that, in a world alive with cities, councils, trade routes, art, and ceremony.

First in flight. Fierce in basketball. Divided by barbecue. And stubborn about everything. North Carolina has never been easy to pin down. It dragged its feet on secession yet sent more soldiers to die for the Confederacy than any other state.

What can a cactus teach you about boundaries, survival, and thriving in a world that wants too much of you? More than you think.

In Cactus, Chaos, and Contradictions, Jordan Blake Carter takes you on a sarcastic, sharp-tongued romp through Arizona’s weird past and wild present. From ancient canals to Barry Goldwater, this is Arizona stripped of brochures and exposed in all its messy, glorious contradictions.

Sweet Home, Strange History pulls no punches and spares no sacred cows. With sharp humor and plenty of grit, it dives into the contradictions that make Alabama unforgettable: pride and shame, resilience and stubbornness, politics that stumble, and football that redeems it all.

Too high, too proud, too wild, too sure it has life figured out.

Welcome to Wisconsin, where beer is practically a food group and winter is a personality test. Cheese, Chill, and Chaos is a hilarious deep dive into the people, politics, and peculiarities that shaped the state.

Iowa: land of corn, caucuses, and catastrophes. For most Americans, that’s the beginning and end of the story. But the Hawkeye State has a history that’s far stranger, funnier, and more important than anyone gives it credit for.

Mississippi is a state of contradictions. It is the birthplace of the blues and Elvis, yet also the epicenter of America’s ugliest battles over race and equality. It ranks last in nearly everything good, but first in cultural influence.

If America is one big dysfunctional family, Idaho is the cousin you forget about until something bizarre drags it back into the spotlight. Potatoes? Sure. But also Ruby Ridge, Nazi compounds, hippies in hot springs, and a six-ton spud on wheels. This isn’t the glossy brochure.

Oregon isn’t tidy. It’s moody, messy, and gloriously contradictory. This is the state that bans Styrofoam but worships chainsaws, that rails against Californians while happily selling them real estate, and that brags about recycling while secretly hoarding sticky six-packs in the garage.