by Sean O'Rourke
American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America, is a critically acclaimed book, by the award winning journalist Colin Woodard, analyzing the influence that regional cultures of North American have had upon the continent. Since its release late in 2011 it has gone from triumph to triumph even wining the 2012 Maine Literary Award for Non-Fiction.
American Nations is hardly the first book comparing regional cultures in the United States. Since David Hackett Fischer's seminal work Albion's Seed, published in 1989, a popular genre of work critiquing American regionalism has arisen with books aimed at a variety of readers. This book sits firmly on the better end of the scale and is a book well worth reading.
Woodard's book is directed towards an erudite but not a professional academic audience. It is no surprise that Woodard writes like a journalist interweaving necessary historical details with the modern facts of the interrelationship between the various cultures. He doesn't restrict his attentions simply to demonstrating that there are socio-cultural distinctions but always asks the the next question―how does this shape the world we live in?
For example, he makes the observation that the Hispanic south-west, which he calls El Norte, is currently the fastest growing nation in the United States and the most politically under represented. He suggests that in light of the stalemate between the Northern-West Coast Alliance and the South and Western Alliance, El Norte will become the next deciding bloc in American electoral politics. The 2016 Election will tell whether or not he is correct.
Although he does tend to focus on the United States simply because the United States contains the heartlands of the Anglo-American cultural nations and the United States is by far the largest and strongest of the three federation that divide up North America, Woodard doesn't ignore the fortunes of Canada and Mexico.
In fact he includes quite a few good chapter on New France and shows how Quebec has dramatically influenced the political agenda of Canada and the northern states of the United States. One must not forget that Quebec is by and large the most likely province or state of North America to be the first to secede from anyone of the giant federations, and Woodard's critique of Quebec does its contemporary political scene justice.
Although nuanced and well researched, Woodard's analysis of the cultural nations of North America is not free from exaggeration. Woodard falls into the same error Joel Garreau does in The Nine American Nations in trying to define cultural boundaries too distinctly.
American Nations is hardly the first book comparing regional cultures in the United States. Since David Hackett Fischer's seminal work Albion's Seed, published in 1989, a popular genre of work critiquing American regionalism has arisen with books aimed at a variety of readers. This book sits firmly on the better end of the scale and is a book well worth reading.
Woodard's book is directed towards an erudite but not a professional academic audience. It is no surprise that Woodard writes like a journalist interweaving necessary historical details with the modern facts of the interrelationship between the various cultures. He doesn't restrict his attentions simply to demonstrating that there are socio-cultural distinctions but always asks the the next question―how does this shape the world we live in?
For example, he makes the observation that the Hispanic south-west, which he calls El Norte, is currently the fastest growing nation in the United States and the most politically under represented. He suggests that in light of the stalemate between the Northern-West Coast Alliance and the South and Western Alliance, El Norte will become the next deciding bloc in American electoral politics. The 2016 Election will tell whether or not he is correct.
Although he does tend to focus on the United States simply because the United States contains the heartlands of the Anglo-American cultural nations and the United States is by far the largest and strongest of the three federation that divide up North America, Woodard doesn't ignore the fortunes of Canada and Mexico.
In fact he includes quite a few good chapter on New France and shows how Quebec has dramatically influenced the political agenda of Canada and the northern states of the United States. One must not forget that Quebec is by and large the most likely province or state of North America to be the first to secede from anyone of the giant federations, and Woodard's critique of Quebec does its contemporary political scene justice.
Although nuanced and well researched, Woodard's analysis of the cultural nations of North America is not free from exaggeration. Woodard falls into the same error Joel Garreau does in The Nine American Nations in trying to define cultural boundaries too distinctly.
No matter how distinctive the heart lands of a two cultures may be the border lands will be a synthesis of the two if they do not consciously preserve their cultural identity, and one of the key features of the Anglo-American nations is that they do not consciously view themselves as being separate.
On one hand he asserts that state borders do not reflect the boundaries of the various cultural nations, but on the other he is willing to compile national boundaries from various linguistic and statistical data and call them distinctive national boundaries even though the people in his “nations” don't recognize themselves as being part of one of his particular nations. Furthermore, the simple fact that he can essentially take Garreau's Southern Culture and divide it into three separate regions proves that boundaries are not well defined.
His borders are certainly more reflective of cultural differences than state lines, but he ignores the one aspect of American culture that makes any book on the cultures of North America an interesting read, viz. citizens of the United States are taught to think of themselves as part of a single nation “indivisible with liberty and justice for all,” and not part of off one of three giant Federations that divide up a culturally diverse North America.
On one hand he asserts that state borders do not reflect the boundaries of the various cultural nations, but on the other he is willing to compile national boundaries from various linguistic and statistical data and call them distinctive national boundaries even though the people in his “nations” don't recognize themselves as being part of one of his particular nations. Furthermore, the simple fact that he can essentially take Garreau's Southern Culture and divide it into three separate regions proves that boundaries are not well defined.
His borders are certainly more reflective of cultural differences than state lines, but he ignores the one aspect of American culture that makes any book on the cultures of North America an interesting read, viz. citizens of the United States are taught to think of themselves as part of a single nation “indivisible with liberty and justice for all,” and not part of off one of three giant Federations that divide up a culturally diverse North America.
That predisposition of the United States, and to a lesser extent Mexico and Canada , to think of itself as a nation-state has a profound impact on the various regional cultures of North America. It would have nice if Woodard had looked at that as well.
However, Woodard's most interesting contribution to the examination of the cultural nations of America is to introduce the question of the balkanization of North America to the dialogue. It is hard to find a book or article about the cultures of North America without finding a reference to the relationship between voting patterns and socio-linguistic boundaries, but Woodard takes questions of regional sensibilities and applies them to the possibility of emerging nation-states which is quite new and quite fascinating.
The prospect of the collapse and breakup of the United States has been knocking around the world of Alternative Media since the KGB American analyst Prof. Igor Panarin predicted in the mid 90's that the US would start to breakup by 2010. Panarin's deadline may have come and gone, but the prospect of American balkanization has gone viral.
From the recent petitions for everyone of the fifty States to secede from the United States that followed on the heals of President Obama's re-election to humorous books like Chuck Thompson's Better Off Without 'Em: A Norther Manifesto for Southern Secession and the full gamut of all forms of apocalyptic predictions between, the breakup of the United States has entered American consciousness.
Woodard adds sober examination of fault lines that could evolve into international boundaries and the possibility of a re-division of North America while acknowledging that such a catastrophe is the predictive powers of any analyst. He writes:
However, Woodard's most interesting contribution to the examination of the cultural nations of America is to introduce the question of the balkanization of North America to the dialogue. It is hard to find a book or article about the cultures of North America without finding a reference to the relationship between voting patterns and socio-linguistic boundaries, but Woodard takes questions of regional sensibilities and applies them to the possibility of emerging nation-states which is quite new and quite fascinating.
The prospect of the collapse and breakup of the United States has been knocking around the world of Alternative Media since the KGB American analyst Prof. Igor Panarin predicted in the mid 90's that the US would start to breakup by 2010. Panarin's deadline may have come and gone, but the prospect of American balkanization has gone viral.
From the recent petitions for everyone of the fifty States to secede from the United States that followed on the heals of President Obama's re-election to humorous books like Chuck Thompson's Better Off Without 'Em: A Norther Manifesto for Southern Secession and the full gamut of all forms of apocalyptic predictions between, the breakup of the United States has entered American consciousness.
Woodard adds sober examination of fault lines that could evolve into international boundaries and the possibility of a re-division of North America while acknowledging that such a catastrophe is the predictive powers of any analyst. He writes:
If the power struggles among the nations have profoundly shaped North America's history over the past four centuries, what might they hold for us in the future? Will the political map of the continent in the year 2100 look the same as it did in 1900 or 2000? … What can be said is this: given the challenges facing the United States, Mexico, and to a lesser extent, Canada, to assume that the continent's political boundaries will remain as they were in 2010 seems as far fetched as any ….
