American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America

Woodard (born 1968), the author of the book, is a journalist and historian with a bachelor’s degree from Tuft’s University and a master’s in international relations from the University of Chicago. He has written for the Christian Science Monitor, the Economist, The New York Times, and other publications and is the recipient of numerous honors, including a Pew Fellowship in International Journalism at the Johns Hopkins University School for Advanced International Study and a Polk Award in journalism (“About.” Colin Woodard). 

Woodard lives in Portland, Maine, in the heart of what he calls Yankeedom, and his commitment to that culture implicitly informs his characterization of other regions. In particular, it is apparent that Woodard believes the culture of the Dixie bloc is flawed. For example, he describes the culture of the Deep South as committed to a “caste system” and “apartheid”—an allusion to the legal system of racial segregation that formerly existed in South Africa. His depiction of The Regions at Loggerheads may also reflect his background in foreign correspondence—in particular, his experience covering the aftermath of the Soviet Union’s collapse, in which fragmentation along ethnic and cultural lines sometimes erupted in violent conflict.