Nations Apart: How Clashing Regional Characters Shattered America

The U.S. is a cobbled-together assortment of nations with radically different cultural values, according to this sweeping follow-up to journalist Woodard’s American Nations. Updating the thesis of that book, Woodard posits a total of nine American subnations that diverge sharply, particularly over individual liberty vs. collective responsibility. They include Yankeedom, stretching from New England to Minnesota, whose Puritan roots bequeathed a sense of communitarian social discipline; the Deep South, whose origins in plantation slavery imprinted it with a hierarchical social order; and Greater Appalachia, a land of rebellious individualism. Drawing on polling stats and maps of county-level data on everything from election results to life expectancy, Woodard applies the nations framework to explain differing regional attitudes on issues like gun control (the violent honor cultures of the South and Appalachia detest it), migration (Appalachian xenophobia runs deep), and action on climate change (it’s actually popular in all the nations, he notes). A Maine native, Woodard wears his Yankee progressivism on his sleeve, frequently suggesting ways to nudge the other regions leftward. At times, his approach can seem unnuanced, as he ascribes so much of politics to tradition, but at other times readers will find themselves nodding along. It’s a thought-provoking reflection on the deep roots of America’s divisions. (Nov.)