American Nations is about the history of the eleven rival regional cultures of North America. It is a nonfiction book written by Colin Woodard. It is a title that illuminates this history of the North American continent and dispels the myth of red states and blue states. If you’re interested in other works of the author, consider The Republic of Pirates. You can also check out American Character.
The audiobook is narrated by Walter Dixon. The performance is good but it does lack in some departments. The sound quality could also have been better. If he read just a bit slower, it would have improved the experience a lot as we would have savored the book more. There are also some inconsistencies regarding the dialects and accents.
North America was settled by people of distinct political, ethnographic, and religious characteristics. They created regional cultures that have been at odds against each other for all this time. The immigrants that came after them didn’t assimilate into an “America” but rather into one of the 11 distinct regional cultures that spread over the country.
We are led on a journey through the history of a fractured continent with rivalries and alliances between its components that neither conforms to the state nor international boundaries. This is the reason why American values differ between regions.
We get to know how these differences played an important role in the events of the continent’s history, like the Civil War and the American Revolution.
You can develop a better grasp of the foundations of the Democratic and Republican parties. The book also serves as a primer for the political forces that will shape the upcoming elections. We also get to know why American politics are stagnating.
