Colin Woodard's American Nations: A Comprehensive Look at the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America

斜め読み: 初期の入植者たちがどこから来てどのように国を作っていったかを理解した。
米国入植者たちの生活に興味あり。。。

Japan on Dec 20, 2023

Nicola Maggio: This book is 10 years old, yet it is more than relevant for US politics today. The brilliant thesis of the author (which is well supported by storiographic literature in the book) is that US has not been founded on one common culture, but it is a result of different ways of thinking based on those of the founding populations that reached the US coasts at the beginning of its history. These 11 nations have proudly shaped the history of America and still influence politics today. In my opinion this is a fundamental book to understand US historical and political environment. It will be interesting to see how the interests of Yankeedom and Deep South will shape the next presidential election.

Italy on Aug 10, 2021

David Watson: Provides a well researched an written history of the foundation colonies which after the War of independence became the United States. It links the foundation ethos of individual colonies to contemporary events and in doing so helps an outsider appreciate some of the forces that are ripping the nation apart. Based on this analysis it is hard to imagine a future in which the country can survive in its present form.

Australia on Feb 19, 2021

Gaston: Je suis ravi de ma commande. Je recommande Ultimate Treasures FR à tous les clients d'Amazon. Pour 3 raisons: leur choix de livres d'abord, l'exactitude de la description faite de leur état, et l' extrême vélocité et fiabilité des expéditions. Un grand merci à Ultimate Treasures FR.

France on Nov 05, 2020

Timothy Ley: America has been called a melting pot and there are oft-told myths about the Pilgrims and the Revolution that are just that - myths. An in-depth explanation of how the country formed and it’s makeup is highly illuminating. Helps explain at least some of why America behaves as it does today. I strongly recommend to anybody interested in learning about the USA.

Canada on Oct 05, 2020

C. Kollars: Pursues for this generation the same themes as "Albion's Seed" did for the last ...although with considerably different details. Where "Albion's Seed" was largely about the pre-revolutionary period, a much longer span of years including the Civil War era as well as the present day is analyzed here. A book not of new research through primary sources, but rather of synthesis of other carefully chosen works of history around a theme few even imagined and almost none expressed quite this way. Specifically, the themes here are that the several cultures within the U.S. are more different from each other than quite a few nation-states, and that although the "Borderlanders" were a majority of the population, they were egregiously excluded from political power until the time of Andrew Jackson, and are still often thought of derogatorily.

He tries pretty hard -and fairly successfully- to be even-handed. Nevertheless I managed to form the impression his personal tendencies were toward progressive causes and away from the Deep South. And he does say explicitly at one point "Since 1877 the driving force of American politics hasn't primarily been a class struggle or tension between...

United States on Sep 28, 2012

meanders: Colin Woodard has written the story of North America that should be taught in school in place of the simplified, sanitized, nearly fictional versions created, like all national histories, for the purpose of welding disparate peoples into a single nation by convincing them they all share a common history. I just got it back from loaning to a friend and re-read it. Like other reviewers here I had read Joel Garreau's "Nine Nations" in the 1980s and more recently Kevin Phillips' "The Cousins Wars" and Dante Chinni's "Patchwork Nation". They were full of interesting information, but Nine Nations and Patchwork Nation didn't address the origins or persistence of the notable regional differences among North Americans. I think Woodard's main thesis is that these regional cultures left their marks so deeply that we are no longer consciously aware of them, and should be. My experience living and working in several of these "nations" indicates that the regional differences do persist, though national media and advertising have masked them.

Reading "American Nations" I felt the pieces falling into place. I am undecided on the question of just how valid the thesis of eleven rival nations...

United States on May 03, 2012