Customer Reviews

The Nine Nations of North America

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Joel Garreau's Nine Nations of North America is still enjoyable, particularly because it is not nearly as dated as you might suspect. I was given it as a gift in 2001 and read it expecting Garreau's fieldwork to show me how people in North American regions used to talk. However, much of what Garreau heard and felt as he traveled accorded with things I'd heard and felt in my travels in the `90s and `00s. The only thing that struck me as (semi-)dated was Garreau's devotion of a significant portion of each chapter to how that "nation" was facing the energy crisis. Is such a concern really dated, though, given how the intervening years' explorations and exploitations more or less tabled the discussion for a future date?

As the holder of a B.A. in Geography, I winced at his choice of the word `nation' when clearly the better term is `region'. Nations are not defined by their interests and way of life, but rather an elusive mix of shared histories, cultures, and socio-political happenstances. However, Garreau's work serves to remind geographers that regions are indeed best defined by interests and way of life, despite much attention given to religious or institutional commonalties (i.e. "civilizations") recently.

What do I think of Garreau's boundaries? Let me answer this way: my brother-in-law recently remarked to me that in trying to correct misconceptions his fellow students at Harvard have about the Midwest, he'd explained that he felt Michigan was a lot more like Pennsylvania (typically considered a "Northeastern/Mid-Atlantic/East Coast" state) than it was like Kansas (often grouped with Michigan as a "Midwestern" state). I laughed and handed him Joel Garreau's Nine Nations of North America. That myriad others have made similar observations I do not doubt. This is the service of Garreau's work: a corrective to our customary understanding of how North America is broken up.

Do I buy into Garreau's boundaries, though? With some minor amendments, yes. I agree that Manhattan, the D.C. area, Alaska, and Hawaii are "aberrations" and would add Central Florida to that list, or perhaps move it into "The Islands", but it is clearly no longer part of "Dixie". A more minor quibble I have would be to shift the northern boundary of the Foundry into Lake Superior rather than splitting the U.P. with "The Breadbasket" (no way Copper Harbor or Marquette is a "Breadbasket" town). If I knew northern Wisconsin better, I would say Superior and Wausau are more likely Foundry towns than they are Breadbasket; that's my suspicion based on the fact that that area is woodsy, rugged, and pocked with mills and factories, and thus perhaps not as concerned by the fate of agribusiness as Kansas City or Minneapolis is.

One last and funny (but not "ha ha funny") thing is that Garreau, in trying to circumscribe New England, notes that there's significant French population along the northern tiers of Maine and New Brunswick, and if it were not for the absurdities of political borders, would put them in with Quebec. However, one thing that characterizes New England (and that perhaps he misses) is its history and culture of significant French influence, from Nova Scotia to Rhode Island.

Highly recommended.

Forget what you learned in any geography class you ever had. Forget what tourist brochures tell you about " their " part of the nation. And once you've forgotten that, read this book and learn what really constitutes North America both politically and sociologically. Joel Garreau has produced a masterwork that should be required reading for every citizen. Even if you think you know your part of the country, Mr. Garreau will provide an update to your knowledge that takes your from " knowing " to " understanding ". And without any apparent prejudice. Whether he is relating cities to areas or peoples to states, he gets it right and in an amazingly readable fashion. Is your company considering transferring you to Seattle? Read about Ecotopia. Do you fear that new position in Kansas City? Peruse the section on the " Breadbasket " and re-think the issue. Mr. Garreau had the presence of mind to realize that our country was a larger entity than 50 states and some off-shore islands. " The Nine Nations of North America " draws everything together and, for once, North America is at peace with itself. And, hopefully, its neighbors. On a personal note, I've given perhaps 600 copies of this book since it was published in 1980. Don't let that date deter you: It's as relevant and accurate now as then. Mr. Garreau loves North America and so will you. Just put yourself in his most competent hands and re-discover the greatness of our part of the planet.C

So frequently we hear pundits and others refer to "red states" and "blue states." Garreau's _9 Nations of North America_ pre-supposes this by almost 25 years, and with a greater degree of finesse than such blanket simplifications as "red" or "blue."

Certainly many parts of the book are quaint - I particularly enjoyed his emphasis on Seattle's aviation industry and the emerging Silicon Valley of California. Yet the larger issue he points out: that North America is culturall divided primarily by economics, but also by social outlook and culture, remains relevant and hauntingly accurate.

Taken with a grain of salt to make allowances for the time that has passed since its publication (I, too, would welcome a revised edition), it is a fascinating read on America and largly remains relevant, particularly in the age of NAFTA and CAFTA.

I purchased this in a book kiosk at the Seattle airport en route to Miami. As I was in Seattle, I started with the section that dealt with the Pacific Northwest and, damn, I suddenly realized why I'd reacted to it as I did. A stop in Kansas City, in the bread basket, proved the same response. Garreau has an instinct for people, places and things and must have had the muse sitting on his lap twisting his tie as he wrote this. His divisions of North America, from Venezuela North to Alaska, are absolutely accurate and, not infrequently, absolutely hysterical. He clearly loves this wacky part of the world-some parts are so strange they are titled abberations-but spares it nothing. I've given over 200 copies of it to people few of whom have had less than overwhelmingly positive responses.No matter where friends live, they'll identify with their area and go on to understand the group in the next "nation". (This restructuring of North America into "Nations" is a stroke of brilliance. He had the intuition, and one suspicions, the research to get it absolutely right.) Quite simply, one of the ten most important books I've ever read.

This was the book that led me to my chosen career path. Garreau did a brillant job in entwining personal dialogues with stats and facts. The boundaries are well thought out. The most interesting parts of the book are those that deal with regions that lie partially outside the US (Quebec, Islands, Mexamerica, Ecotopia), but all sections have merit. Granted, having an updated version of this book would be nice, but that just gives us grad students something to inspire to. I would definitely recommend that the Aberrations chapter be read by all, as it perfectly demostrates the conflict each nation may inflict on others.

Twenty years ago I read Raymond Gastil's "Cultural Regions of the United States" and found it very interesting, so when I spotted the title of Garreau's book I bought it immediately, thinking that North America was an apter field for such researches than just the USA. No doubt, Garreau has some very interesting ideas. His choices for designating the nine nations are sound and appeal to the imagination as well. I was especially impressed with some of the conclusions he reached, back in the late `70s, (the book came out in 1981, so all the research was done prior to that). His view of south Florida and its connection to the Caribbean and South America proved extremely prescient given the events of 2000. The "MexAmerican" future of much of the Southwest is coming to pass. His predictions about the future of hi-tech in New England and environmental concerns in "Ecotopia" (northwest Pacific coast) also impress the reader of two decades on. But overall, I felt that THE NINE NATIONS OF NORTH AMERICA fell through the cracks. Garreau really never defines what he means by a "nation". Is it different from a "cultural region" ? What are the defining characteristics of other world nations that may resemble one or more of the North American "nations" ? Does the author find any similarities ? Are economic realities often the basis of nations ? [Looking at Africa I would say no.] Secondly, his interviews and researches are extraordinarily diffuse, amounting sometimes to an unbelievably scattershot approach, hoping to hit something valuable. Time and time again, I found myself wondering, "What does this have to do with defining a nation ?" A total amateur myself, who has never attempted any work of the sort, I still felt that I could have rounded up more evidence in support of my argument than Garreau did. The reader often loses sight of any argument at all. The author's style is eminently readable, pleasant, and entertaining. He obviously has a great sense of humor. Whether that is enough to carry a reader through 390 pages is up to you.

I write this review having read this book in the early 80's, and now trying to find it again to re-read. Although I only read it once, its premise has revisited me over and over again - the fact that our state, and yes, our national borders in North America are imaginary. I can say that from personal experience, what Joel Garreau wrote about the similarities of people and values within regions is not 100% accurate, but extremely close. Having come from Toronto and moving to suburban Detroit, I less culture shock had I made a similar move to Miami, or even Seattle or Vancouver. Places like Chicago and New York are far more familiar to me, being part of the "Foundry", as Garreau calls the north-central US and southern Ontario. I'm sure that many a sociologist may not agree with his conclusions, but they are observations made with the keen eye of a journalist. They are not bad ones, at that.

This book came highly recommended by an older friend of mine (I was a toddler when this book was published, whereas he was a fully sentient adult - that's what I mean by "older"). It is definitely the oldest (29 years) non-fiction book I've read in a long time, possibly ever.

What's remarkable about this book is how frequently you forget its age. The numbers are a bit dated, but the thinking and unifying hypothesis are as valid today as they were in 1979 (when the book was published). The gaffs, related to its age, are rare...like when Garreau predicts that New England will become the center of technology that the Pacific northwest actually became. By and large, the author is prescient, and much of what is said is as true today as the day it was published.

We pay so much attention as a society to the value of culture that I'm surprised that this theory of North American "nations" has not entered more common usage today. It's a shame it hasn't; the patterns and commonalities that unite the nations Garreau identifies are far more useful to me than many other systems that various educators and pundits have tried to get me to think in the time since I've become an adult.

This is almost a travel book, more than anything else. Garreau's Nine Nations are probably not intended to be political predictions about the near future. Not rigorously researched in an academic manner, it is a bunch of Studs Terkel-type interviews mixed with the ideas about a place that people observe during widespread travels and a fair bunch of statistics (without footnotes).

Written in the depths of the energy crisis of the 1970s and Carter's Moral Equivalent of War, it does seem a bit obsessed with energy at first. But after the introduction and the New England chapter, it picks up more balance, although, as with any reporting, one can never pin down the author to a particular viewpoint.

As a look at the arbitrary and somewhat meaningless nature of national and state/province borders; every continent ought to be looked at in this way! If you can only live and explore one part of it, 'The Nine Nations of North America' has plenty to say about the rest.

I bought this book when it came out in 1982. I have bought four of them over the years because my "friends" kept stealing or borrowing them. I used Garreau's theorems in deciding which candidates stood the best possibility of adjusting to relocation in my executive recruiting business in the days before the Internet. The most successful, most interchangeable relocation: Pittsburgh-Baltimore, Baltimore -Pittsburgh. The most surprising but relevant detail: Fort Worth is a "Western" city and Dallas is a "Southern" one. He was the first writer of a published book who named what I had lived in Miami...South Florida is part of the Caribbean and South America. This was a book ahead of its time and NEVER should have gone to Remainders.
This was one of the most imfluential books of my career. Joel Garreau had vision thirty years ago that stood the test of time.
Sibyl Masquelier
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Cape Elizabeth, ME