Journalist Woodard (The Republic of Pirates) takes a fresh approach to North America by reviewing the history and ethnography of its various regions. He includes Mexico and Canada in his study but focuses mainly on the United States. He splits the continent into Left Coast, Far West, El Norte, Greater Appalachia, Midlands, Deep South, Tidewater, New Netherland, Yankeedom, and New France, with the four most powerful northern "nations" forming a Northern Alliance and the four most powerful southern ones a Dixie Bloc. The cultural and political clashes between these two "superpowers," he convincingly argues, has shaped American history, with the other three "nations" serving as swing regions tipping the scale on issues ranging from slavery to foreign policy. The regional histories predictably focus on colonization, the American Revolution, western migration, the Civil War, and Reconstruction, but the surprisingly thorough and wide-ranging story brings readers through the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, offering an up-to-date study as viewed through this distinct ethnographic lens. VERDICT The argument that there is not one American identity but many is not new, but Woodard makes a worthwhile contribution by offering an accessible, well-researched analysis with appeal to both casual and scholarly readers.—Douglas King, Univ. of South Carolina Lib., Columbia