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  • American Nations

  • A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America
  • Written by: Colin Woodard
  • Narrated by: Walter Dixon
  • Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (32 ratings)

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American Nations

Written by: Colin Woodard
Narrated by: Walter Dixon
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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

What the critics say

"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)

What listeners say about American Nations

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Should be required reading in schools

This book goes a long way to explain the politics in N. America with emphasis on the US and a nod to Canada and México.

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insightful

very insightful book. I saw some stuff online about the 11 nations, but didn't realized it was a book. Then saw the interview by the author at the majority report, for his next book, that's how I knew about this one.

might be worth a second listening, cause there is a lot of moving parts in this North America

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This is a really good history book

This book is exceptional, it has a wealth of interesting information, of course I have not validated that information but I am assuming is valid and the result of the author’s research.
The only issue is that sometimes seems like the information has been selected to make the author’s point about the multiple nations hypothesis.
I agree that today we can see that there seem to be many nations instead of one and the explanation given is quite convincing but still I am a but skeptics of the conclusions and I will have to read further in the topic to dispel my skepticism.

But overall a great read and the narration was also great.

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North American Culture Explained

If you've ever wondered why Americans can have such wildly different worldviews depending on what state they're from or why Canada exists and what culture defines it, this book is for you. The author presents a very well supported hypothesis on the cultural identities that make up North America from northern Mexico to Arctic Canada. From the founding principles of each colony to how they changed or endured up until the present day.

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history that was never taught to me

i kearned more in the prelude than i has taught in High School history class

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1 person found this helpful