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 »
Articles Tagged: US History
Speaking on Union and the struggle to forge a story of U.S. nationhood in Newport, R.I, April 21
On April 21 at 7pm I’ll be speaking on my most recent book, Union: The Struggle to Forge the Story of United States Nationhood, and the battle between civic and… Read more »
Signing and Q&A, Leopold’s, Madison, Wisconsin, Mar. 15
I’ll be doing an informal Q&A and signing books at Madison, Wisconsin’s very own Leopold’s Books Bar Caffe on March 15 from 6 to 7pm. Come by and chat about… Read more »
Speaking on American Nations at Ohio University, Feb. 11
I’ll be giving a talk entitled “American Nations: How to Unite the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of the United States” at Ohio University in Athens on February 11 from 7:00 to… Read more »
A former CIA and NSA director on American Nations and the authoritarian threat to the U.S.
“I am worried about our country, as I was about Bosnia 30 years ago,” General Michael Hayden, former director of the National Security Agency and Central Intelligence Agency under George W…. Read more »
Talking Union and America’s search for national identity with PBS’ “Story in the Public Square”
Maintaining a shared sense of nationhood has always been a special challenge for the United States, arguably the world’s first civic nation, one defined not by organic ties, but by… 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 »
Talking pirates on Spotify’s hit podcast Real Pirates
Bristol, England-based podcast producers Noiser recently reached out to interview me for an extended series they’re doing for Spotify on the golden age pirates whose story I reassembled in my… 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 »
Talking about the state of U.S. democracy with Japan’s Asahi Shimbun
Ever since American Nations came out in Japanese translation a few years ago, there’s been consistent interest in the paradigm in Japan, where those who follow international relations have been… 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.