On a recent trip to Austin, Texas, when I was talking about this with one of my local knowledge, amateur historian in his spare time, he advised me reading American Nations Colin Woodard. The subtitle of this book is released in 2011 A History of the Eleven Regional Rivals Cultures of North America (A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America).
Immediately evacuate the form: American Nations is a book in English, written by a journalist from the general and business media, so this is both well written and quite understandable. I would even go further: the book is very well structured, and does not fall into the wound of a large part of the books of this type published in the US namely repetition. A relatively linear pattern was followed from the early American colonies to the modern era without fatigue or downtime.
Woodard's thesis, which is not entirely new (according to him), but had never been traced in historical context (always after him) is that the US is not a nation ethno-cultural sense, but rather a conglomerate of nations whose culture and values sometimes diverge greatly and until today remain largely a legacy of colonization, particularly ethnicity and values each wave of settlers brought with them.
To demonstrate this, Woodard recounts in detail the different periods of colonization, explains very convincingly how the Calvinist Puritans of New England have left their sense of the common good (and education), their sobriety daily and work ethic to the region, while the southern English planters, son of the lords of Barbados, are built on a model where the work (of others) was the way to release it to the aristocrat leadership, cultivates and take good time. These are the most extreme examples, but the book is actually very subtle, distinguishing the values of the Deep South slavers and those more moderate Virginia, explaining how the Scots and Irish paupers who colonized Appalachia have built a warlike and individualistic social model, how the first settlers of Pennsylvania were tolerant and pacifist idealists, how the Indian populations, Spanish and European were mixed with the Mexico-US border and beyond.
In short, this book really opened my eyes not only articulating a phenomenon I had felt in the United States but also by giving it a true historical perspective. What is exciting is that obviously these cultural differences explain to a large extent the political choices of the American state today, torn by these trends. For several decades, two blocks opposed. On one side a coalition of nations around New England, New York and Northern California who advocate a strong state that ensures education for all and the protection of individuals with regard to corporations, all tinged with proselytism history that 'justifies' of meddling in the affairs of others. In addition, a coalition of nations around the Deep South, Appalachia and Virginia advocating a weak state, a combination of an inherited class society and a rugged individualism, all justified by adequate religious doctrine. Other nations are kingmakers, leaning to one side or the other throughout history, they have made and unmade governments.
American Nations is really a book I highly recommend reading, especially for those interested in the history and the future of North America. The book also extends its analysis a bit beyond the geographic boundaries of the United States by examining the cultural commonalities beyond the northern border (with Canada) and South (with Mexico). In short, the American nations show little regard for geographical boundaries of the States, but they are real and affect the daily lives of citizens of these three countries.
