The United States

No, America isn’t fundamentally flawed

What has gone wrong for Americans? To listen to an increasing number of politicians and pundits on both sides, from Tucker Carlson to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, from Nick Fuentes to Zohran Mamdani, the answer seems to be: everything. Americans are unable to get a job; to afford the necessities of life; to get married or have children; to find religious meaning or form friendships. And all of this can be laid at the feet of corrupt institutions and a corrupt system. This conspiracy-tinged, vitriolic take on the American system is a lie. Yet it contains a grain of truth. Our institutions have been led self-servingly by a coterie who disdain American values.

What happened to the Disunited States?

Regionalism and the idea of America’s fracture are having a moment. Recent book releases include many titles focusing on American divisions, including Carrie Gibson’s history of the southwestern El Norte region and Kristin Hoganson’s study of the local, insulated, exceptional, isolationist and provincial ‘Heartland’, and Tony Horwitz’s journey deep into the South to understand how its Antebellum roots impact American divisions today.Perhaps the most widely accepted and popular idea of regional differences comes from Colin Woodard. He carved the country into 11 regional 'nations’, each with unique histories and cultures that he believes have shaped their ideologies and politics.

disunited