Nations Apart by Colin Woodard

NATIONS APART by Colin Woodard recounts “How Clashing Regional Cultures Shattered America,” building on his research and earlier writing including American Nations, originally published in 2011. His earlier text used history to explain the development of regional differences. His latest focuses more on specific issues like gun control, abortion, and climate. Woodard is clearly biased in his views on where America is heading (“Our democracy is backsliding.”), but also optimistic: “the American people are not nearly as polarized as our political leaders on the hot-button issues and are remarkably united around our ideals.” However, he writes in a scholarly, rather dense format and that may be difficult for the average reader. The most interesting part to me was the final chapter which is filled with graphs and charts based on polling done for Woodard’s Nationhood Lab. A helpful resource for researchers, approximately fifteen percent of the text is devoted to notes and references. NATIONS APART is a selection for The Next Big Idea Club’s November 2025 Must-Read Books and received a starred review from Booklist. Possible read-alikes (although older) include: Big Sort (2008) by Bill Bishop Bowling Alone (2000) by Putnam; Prius or Pick-up (2018) by Hetherington; and Fault Lines (2019) by Kruse.