Nations Apart

How Clashing Regional Cultures Shattered America

By: Colin Woodard

Narrated by: Ari Fliakos

"A world-class intellectual. . . . [Colin Woodard’s] research can help Americans rediscover their common identity in spite of all the attempts to divide them." —Garry Kasparov

"A powerful paradigm for understanding the defining hot button issues of contemporary America and the action we can take to bridge our cultural divisions and save the republic." —The Next Big Idea Club

“A lucid exercise in political geography with tremendous—and disturbing—explanatory power.” —Kirkus Reviews

The bestselling author of American Nations reveals how centuries-old regional differences have brought American democracy to the brink of collapse and presents a powerful story that can bridge our cultural divisions and save the republic

Our democracy has been purposefully dismantled, first in the states and now at the federal level. With groundbreaking original data and historical insights, Nations Apart is an essential guide to understanding why Americans are so divided on many hot button issues, creating geographic fissures that have been exploited by authoritarians. Colin Woodard shows how colonial era settlement patterns and the cultural geography they left behind are at the root of our political polarization, economic inequality, public health crises, and democratic collapse.

Drawing on quantitative research from Woodard’s university-based think tank project, Nations Apart exposes the true ideological and cultural divides behind today’s struggles over:

* Gun control
* Immigration
* Health policy
* Abortion
* Climate Change
* History
* Authoritarianism and Democracy

But there is a road map to right the country: a carefully researched, vigorously tested common story for the country built on the mission set forth for us in the document that first bound our regions together, the Declaration of Independence. Combining compelling storytelling with scholarly vigor, Nations Apart offers a blueprint for bridging the rifts that divide us and ensuring the American dream of democratic self-government will reach its 300th birthday.


* This audiobook edition includes a downloadable PDF of maps and other images from the book.

Terrific! Must read! Urgent and important

Colin Woodard hits it out of the park with another insightful, important and compelling book. This goes with his other two books, American Nations and American Character, to explain, how the values of the different groups who settled in America shape what is happening today.. he shows how threatening the values of the deep south and Appalachia are to American democracy.

A must read book to understand what is happening today. Well written and easy to read or listen to. Colin Woodard is a former journalist who how to make every sentence, every word count. The audible edition has a PDF where you can print out or look on your computer at some of the compelling charts.

Can’t recommend this highly enough plus get his other two books to really understand in depth how America evolved to what we are today

Third time isn’t the charm

I loved his first book, American Nations. I read it twice. I liked his second one in the subject. This one I couldn’t finish. I’ll save you the time and money. He is very progressive, loves academic studies, and thinks people who don’t think like him are backwards. There you have it. Snooze.