Readers of American Nations know the U.S. is an awkward federation of regional cultures which don’t see eye to eye. So it’s not surprising that when a huge number of… Read more »
Article Topic: book reviews
U.S. nationhood was created nearly from scratch in the 19th century. Was Daniel Webster responsible?
The early United States, scholars have noted, was a country in search of nationhood. Created as an ad hoc military alliance of disparate colonies to fight off a shared political… Read more »
2023 Maine Humanities statewide community read picks — from yours truly this year — announced
The Maine Humanities Council organizes an annual statewide community read program — Read ME — with two titles chosen by a Maine author. It was my honor and privilege to… Read more »
Should we replace the U.S. National Anthem?
Over the July 4th weekend the Washington Post published my review of musicologist Mark Clague’s new book, O Say Can You Hear?: A Cultural Biography of The Star Spangled Banner, a book… Read more »
Reviewing David Hackett Fisher’s Albion’s Seed sequel in Washington Monthly
More than thirty years ago, Brandeis historian David Hackett Fischer resuscitated the effort to develop a historical narrative of the United States with a book called Albion’s Seed, a sweeping… Read more »
Reviewing Yascha Mounk’s “Great Experiment” in Washington Monthly
The world’s ongoing slide into authoritarianism has generated a frantic effort among political scientists, historians, and national security experts to identify the causes and possible solutions. University of Chicago law… Read more »
Reviewing Matthew Pearl’s “Taking of Jemima Boone” in Washington Monthly
“The frontier” has played a huge role in the American imagination, a place where civilization and savagery supposedly met and the former — with allegedly heroic intent and deeds —… Read more »
Reviewing Alex von Tunzelmann’s “Fallen Idols” in the Washington Post
In Sunday’s Washington Post I reviewed Alex von Tunzelmann’s new book, Fallen Idols: Twelve Statues that Made History. It’s extremely topical, providing historical and comparative context for thinking about the evaluation and potential… Read more »
Reviewing Alan Taylor’s “American Republics” in the Washington Post
In Sunday’s Washington Post I reviewed Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Alan Taylor’s new book, American Republics: A Continental History of the United States, 1783-1850. I’ve been reading Taylor, who was born and… Read more »
Reviewing Eric Posner’s “The Demagogue’s Playbook” in the Washington Post
In today’s Sunday Washington Post, I review University of Chicago Law School professor Eric Posner’s new book on demagogues… Read more »
COLIN WOODARD is a New York Times bestselling author and award-winning journalist. He is the author of six books that have been translated into a dozen foreign languages and inspired an NBC television drama. He is currently Director of Nationhood Lab at the Pell Center for International Relations and Public Affairs at Salve Regina University. As State and National Affairs Writer at the Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram he won a 2012 George Polk Award and was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in 2016. He is a contributing editor at POLITICO and his work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Economist, Smithsonian and dozens of other major publications.