American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America

2025-05-11 . The book was recommended both as an aid to family historians because it discusses why and how our ancestors viewed the world (Family Locket) and as a way to make sense of current regional political view (Washington Post). Mr Woodward contends that the United States is a federation of eleven cultural nations that don’t respect state boundaries. For example, California includes three nations. Southern California is part of El Nortre nation which also extends along the Meican border to New Mexico and up as far as Colorado; the interior of California is part of the Far West nation that extends to The western parts of Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, and Texas. The California coast from Monterey north to Oregon is part of the Left Coast nation which also includes the coasts of Oregon and Washington (Eastern Oregon and Washington is part of the Far West nation.) He contends that, due to different histories, the nations divided into three northern nations against three southern nations and four swing nations. And the nations truly don’t agree on issues such as: the value of a large government to improve the lives of ordinary citizens versus libertinism and a deregulation that favors business a broad base of voters that includes ethnic groups, the poor, and the uneducated versus an elite, educated, wealthy base freedom of thought, inquiry, and media versus regulations and banns excluding military actions against foreign enemies, the national power versus state rights a moral obligation to help the world’s people (food, housing, medical care, opportunity, access to information) versus a responsibility to the immediate family a mosaic of diverse cultures versus a melting pot strong foreign allies and military action versus isolation integration of cultural and ethnic groups versus segregation intellectual development; education; social reform (Yankeedom) versus reliance on “common sense” and tradition/religions He includes some information that isn’t available in standard texts, such as describing the high living standards and complex civilizations of Native Americans when Europeans discovered them and that in the early 1600’s, the Netherlands was the most modern and sophisticated country on Earth. The book is organized around historical periods; however, where each nation stood or stands on each of the above issues isn’t systematically disclosed in the text, a table, or a graph. This deficit decreases its value to discussions about both history and current politics.

Must read for every American.

This book is a cultural look at the regional differences found within North America, starting with the beliefs of the peoples that moved to and established themselves in the U.S. However, the author only provides a loose or vague understanding of "The Far West", which encompasses a huge portion of North America, but has been influenced by ALL of the other regions. I do think there is much to learn and appreciate about the cultural and political viewpoints noted in this book, but don't expect much regarding much of western America.

One of the most important and fascinating books I've ever read.