List Price: $18.00 Details

Save: $3.71 (21%)

Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime & FREE Returns

FREE delivery: Friday, Sep 10 on orders over $25.00 shipped by Amazon. Details

Fastest delivery: Wednesday, Sep 8
Order within 19 hrs and 11 mins Details

In Stock.

As an alternative, the Kindle eBook is available now and can be read on any device with the free Kindle app. Want to listen? Try Audible.

$$14.29 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details

Secure transaction

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

Return policy: Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement

Add a gift receipt for easy returns

Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime

FREE delivery: Friday, Sep 10 on orders over $25.00 shipped by Amazon. Details

Used: Good | Details

Sold by Arrow Aries Books

Fulfilled by Amazon

Share <Embed>

Other Sellers on Amazon

$11.66
+ $3.99 shipping

Sold by: Gama1521

$12.20
+ $3.99 shipping

Sold by: Ambis Enterprises

$18.05
& FREE Shipping

Sold by: Book Depository US

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See all 3 images

Follow the Author

Colin Woodard

American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America Paperback – September 25, 2012

by Colin Woodard (Author)

2,683 ratings

in First Nations Canadian History

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$12.99

—

Audible Audiobook, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$0.00

Free with your Audible trial

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$47.49

$129.96

$39.49

Paperback

"Please retry"

$14.29

$9.99

$5.72

Audio CD, MP3 Audio, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$25.99

—

• A New Republic Best Book of the Year • The Globalist Top Books of the Year • Winner of the Maine Literary Award for Non-fiction •

Particularly relevant in understanding who voted for who in this presidential election year, this is an endlessly fascinating look at American regionalism and the eleven “nations” that continue to shape North America

According to award-winning journalist and historian Colin Woodard, North America is made up of eleven distinct nations, each with its own unique historical roots. In American Nations he takes readers on a journey through the history of our fractured continent, offering a revolutionary and revelatory take on American identity, and how the conflicts between them have shaped our past and continue to mold our future. From the Deep South to the Far West, to Yankeedom to El Norte, Woodard (author of American Character: A History of the Epic Struggle Between Individual Liberty and the Common Good) reveals how each region continues to uphold its distinguishing ideals and identities today, with results that can be seen in the composition of the U.S. Congress or on the county-by-county election maps of any hotly contested election in our history.

Print length

384 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Penguin Books
Publication date

September 25, 2012
Dimensions

5.5 x 0.8 x 8.4 inches
ISBN-10

9780143122029
ISBN-13

978-0143122029
See all details

Frequently bought together

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

Colin Woodard
188
Hardcover
27 offers from $12.95
Anton Treuer
309
Hardcover
$45.00
Get it as soon as Friday, Sep 10
FREE Shipping on orders over $25 shipped by Amazon
Charles C. Mann
3,628
Paperback
$15.99
Get it as soon as Friday, Sep 10
FREE Shipping on orders over $25 shipped by Amazon
Colin Woodard
181
Paperback
$13.69
Get it as soon as Friday, Sep 10
FREE Shipping on orders over $25 shipped by Amazon
David Hackett Fischer
52
Paperback
$30.00
Get it as soon as Friday, Sep 10
FREE Shipping on orders over $25 shipped by Amazon
Only 11 left in stock (more on the way).
Joel Garreau
31
Hardcover
28 offers from $6.49

What other items do customers buy after viewing this item?

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

Colin Woodard
181
Paperback
$13.69
Get it as soon as Friday, Sep 10
FREE Shipping on orders over $25 shipped by Amazon
Carl N. Degler
36
Paperback
$18.99
Get it as soon as Friday, Sep 10
FREE Shipping on orders over $25 shipped by Amazon
David Hackett Fischer
519
Paperback
$16.53
Get it as soon as Friday, Sep 10
FREE Shipping on orders over $25 shipped by Amazon
Colin Woodard
90
Paperback
$16.29
Get it as soon as Friday, Sep 10
FREE Shipping on orders over $25 shipped by Amazon
Alan Briggs
43
Paperback
$14.81
Get it as soon as Friday, Sep 10
FREE Shipping on orders over $25 shipped by Amazon
Only 2 left in stock - order soon.
Howard Zinn
9,807
Paperback
in U.S. Civil War History
$13.29
Get it as soon as Friday, Sep 10
FREE Shipping on orders over $25 shipped by Amazon

Editorial Reviews

Review

Winner, 2012 Maine Literary Award for Non-Fiction.

About the Author

Colin Woodard, an award-winning writer and journalist, is currently the state and national affairs writer at the Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram where he won a 2012 George Polk Award and was a finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting A longtime foreign correspondent for The Christian Science Monitor, the San Francisco Chronicle, and The Chronicle of Higher Education, he has reported from more than fifty foreign countries and six continents. His work has appeared in dozens of publications, including The Economist, Smithsonian, The Washington Post, Politico, Newsweek, The Daily Beast, The Guardian, Bloomberg View, and Washington Monthly. A graduate of Tufts University and the University of Chicago, he is the author of four other books including American Character and The Republic of Pirates.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0143122029
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Books; Reprint edition (September 25, 2012)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 384 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780143122029
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0143122029
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.2 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.4 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #5,032 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1 in First Nations Canadian History
- #2 in Historical Geography
- #2 in History of Ethnic & Tribal Religions

Customer Reviews:
2,683 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		73%
4 star		16%
3 star		6%
2 star		2%
1 star		2%

How are ratings calculated?

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Robert Browning

First part good, last part horrible

Reviewed in the United States on November 7, 2019

Verified Purchase

The first part of the book was fascinating, as it provided information of the ideology, settlement, and customs of each nation. That part was an interesting read. I was leaning toward giving this a 4-star rating until I hit about Chapter 24. At this point, the author loses all objectivity and shows his clear northeastern bias against the south. His generalizations about the south aren’t based on any objective data, but on personal prejudices from his perspective. There are a good number of downright incorrect statements that were derogatory toward the southern part of the country, which were really disappointing.

Some of his “historical” conclusions were very inaccurate as well. In chapter 26, he implies that the Nazis adopted their prejudicial attitude toward the black population from the Deep South. The fact of the matter is that Hitler’s philosophy was driven and constructed from Darwin (the idea of the survival of the fittest), and Nietzsche’s ideas of the “superman”, “super race”. Those were the drivers of what begat the Holocaust.

Also mentioned were snide comments about evangelical Christianity. The implications in the latter chapters were that evangelicals wanted a “Christian theocracy”, or evangelical “sharia law”. It is obvious that he really doesn’t understand evangelical population at all and would be well served to learn and understand who that segment of the population is.
Again, the last part of the book forced me to give this a one-star rating. I’d love to see the author do more objective research and redo that last part of the book.

257 people found this helpful

Helpful

CFraser

The mind-shifting I got from this book is the only thing that keeps me sane when I read the news.

Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2018

Verified Purchase

As I struggled to fathom what has happened to the US in the past year, this book came along and has begun to inform my thinking about how our current governmental scenario has developed.
Understanding the point of view/world view of people of the various "nations" of North America has helped me to be a bit less reactive in my responses as decisions get made that I think are bonkers. But bonkers because I've come from my nation and they've come from theirs.
Next challenge ... figuring out how to bridge the gap between the nations. That's a biggie.

183 people found this helpful

Helpful

Lindy

Warning against buying the audio version

Reviewed in the United States on November 24, 2017

Verified Purchase

Just a word of warning about the Audible edition: there are far too many inaccuracies in the recorded version, inaccuracies which should have been corrected by re-recording. Some of the author's words are changed by the narrator. Some are omitted, while occasionally some are added. Some words are misread in ways that either alter the entire meaning of the sentence or leave the listener wondering what in the world the sentence was supposed to mean. Some words are mispronounced. After listening to about six chapters, I decided to buy the Kindle version so that I could understand what the author had actually written. I then read the text as I listened to the audio version, a process which showed me just how many substantial errors the narrator was making. This low quality of the audio version is unacceptable. By the way, I join those reviewers who praise the first 2/3 of this book, but I certainly urge others to purchase a text version.

209 people found this helpful

Helpful

Luke T. Evans

First two-thirds are excellent and well-balanced, the last third sadly not so

Reviewed in the United States on October 13, 2015

Verified Purchase

I highly recommend this book, but I'm submitting a three-star review based on the book's very weak and undisciplined finish. I thought the first two-thirds of the book provided a well-documented and well-thought-out presentation of America's regional differences and the history behind those differences. It was truly enlightening, even for an historian like myself. When writing the last third, however, the author clearly lost his objective discipline. Whereas the first two-thirds were well-reasoned and well-supported, the last third devolved into stereotypes and generalities, and contained more than a few downright errors, particularly concerning the modern Deep South and Greater Appalachia. I am an unapologetic Left Coaster with clear leanings toward activist Yankeeism, but even I was able to see Mr. Woodard's clear bias in the last third of the book. I found myself cringing more than a few times at the outright inaccuracies contained in his presentation of the modern South. I could list at least a half-dozen factual errors in his presentation concerning the practice and influence of Evangelical Christianity in the Bible Belt, for instance, but would rather not bog down this review with nit-picking. It would be great if Mr. Woodard could write a revised edition where he would exercise the same historical discipline in the last third of the book that he did for the first two-thirds. Such a presentation would truly be worthy of five stars. I still feel that this book is very much worth reading, but readers should approach the last third with a skeptical eye.

819 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Retired

Unique and insightful history of the development of regional American character

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 27, 2018

Verified Purchase

This book geographically divides the USA into regions characterized by the sorts of people who first settled what is now the American nation. The conclusions are insightful, fascinating and make for cannot-put-it-down reading. The first two thirds of the book are an important history lesson not generally taught in schools. The last third of the book is (unfortunately) rather emotionally driven -- re-making points that were already made earlier.

One thing the author should have done is better fact checking. While most of the history is factual, there are some glaring errors. For example, the author puts Donegal PA on the Great Wagon Road -- a 115 mile mistake. The Great Wagon Road did not go this far west. Another glaring error is erroneous comparison of the early relationship between the thirteen original states to the relationship of nations in the European Union. The author is way off the mark on this and obviously did not study the way the European Union is set up but just made assumptions.

But, the author's overall goal of elucidating the regional characteristics of the USA is well served.

6 people found this helpful

ulbrich

Yankees are not the only nation in America

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 28, 2017

Verified Purchase

Anyone who thought that the United States was a coherent country with common values should read Woodard's book. It offers British readers in particular a much more nuanced insight into the complex mix of cultures and values assimilated into the boundaries of this state, and also signposts what might have happened instead at different junctures. The arguments are supported by solid references and the book would make not just enjoyable leisure reading but serve as a valuable alternative viewpoint to received wisdom for those studying the history and constitution of America.

One person found this helpful

Macdaraesque

Very good but broad treatment of American settlement patterns and their political results

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 22, 2020

Verified Purchase

This is great ride through the effects of European settlement on US politics up to the present - however, it does get increasingly partisan as it approaches recent years. It is hard thereafter to escape the idea that partisanship was present at the beginning, but lack of awareness or visibility of the primary sources prevented noticing it.
However, this is a hard recommend and builds upon previous scholarship such as Albion's Seed

Mrs. R

Totally engrossing

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 7, 2016

Verified Purchase

This is a totally engrossing account of how the United States was founded. Having previously lived in America, I was easily able to identify as well as understand how the ethno-cultural differences came to be - in fact, I found it a revelation: the United States is anything but united! For anyone who has an interest in America - it's history and its politics - this is an unmissable read and I cannot recommend this book too highly.

One person found this helpful

JCW

Good book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 29, 2019

Verified Purchase

Bought for my husband. He said it was a good read

See all reviews