Joel Garreau

Once upon a time, this pop demography seemed compelling and insightful. Forty years later, it looks like an interesting snapshot of the late 20th century. The recent disunity of North America has undoubtedly been incubated and exacerbated by these socio-geographic rifts, but culture is currently much more fissured by purpose-made political divisions and virtual tribes. This book was a successful attempt at popularising large-scale social data; today every social media participant and media pundit offers their own analysis based on their favourite ways of sampling and dividing up society.… (more)