Dallas Public Library

American nations, a history of the eleven rival regional cultures of North America, Colin Woodard

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

maps

index present

non fiction

American nations

bibliography

Colin Woodard

a history of the eleven rival regional cultures of North America

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. From the Hardcover edition

Part 1. Origins: 1590 to 1769. Founding El Norte -- Founding New France -- Founding Tidewater -- Founding Yankeedom -- Founding New Netherland -- The colonies' first revolt -- Founding the deep south -- Founding the midlands -- Founding greater Appalachia -- Part 2. Unlikely allies: 1770 to 1815. A common struggle -- Six wars of liberation -- Independence or revolution? -- Nations in the north -- First secessionists -- Part 3. Wars for the west: 1816 to 1877. Yankeedom spreads west -- The midlands spread west -- Appalachia spreads west -- The deep south spreads west -- Conquering El Norte -- Founding the left coast -- War for the west -- Part 4. Culture wars: 1878 to 2010. Founding the far west -- Immigration and identity -- Gods and missions -- Culture clash -- War, empire, and the military -- The struggle for power I: the blue nations -- The struggle for power II: the red and the purple -- Epilogue