The Nine Nations of North America

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.

Great thesis. I buy it, I enjoyed it, I think it would have interesting ramifications if applied to the consensus-building phenomena in the game theory of our governmental structure. The nine nations are defined by cultural and economic realities, not artificial borders (but mostly by natural and infrastructural borders): Ecotopia, The Empty Quarter, Quebec, New England, The Foundary, Dixie, The Islands, Mexamerica, The Breadbasket and a few aberrations (Manhattan, Alaska, Hawaii, and Washington, D.C.) Great stuff, a must for any demographer or database marketer.

I first read this book when it came out in the early 80s, and reread it with pleasure recently. It accurately describes the different sections of North America, and remains amazingly accurate in its views. If you do not think so, just look at the recent political campaigns - most of Mexamerica and the Pacific Northwest and New England are blue while the midwest and west are red. As a bank analyst, I was very impressed by how the book tended to predict which banks would merge because banks in similar areas had the same cultures.

Totally changed the way I think about American regionalism and geopolitics. Still useful and relevant today.

A fascinating tour of the main cultural regions of Canada, the United States, and Mexico.

NF