American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America

The United States is often described as a melting pot—a country in which immigrants’ various cultures and values combine into a cohesive whole. Woodard writes that this idea is false, arguing that the US is really 11 nations within one, each with its own culture and politics. Immigrants to the US do not assimilate into the great American melting pot but instead largely acquire the characteristics of the region of the United States in which they settle.

Those characteristics are, according to Woodard, primarily determined by the nature and values of the immigrants who first settled the area. For example, the early European settlers of the Midlands were often fleeing oppressive authoritarian regimes. As a result, they tended to be skeptical of governmental power—a tendency Woodard argues has persisted in the region to this day, even among those of different ethnic backgrounds. Immigrants therefore do assimilate, but they do so by becoming part of the regional rather than national fabric. 

This does not mean that there is no truth to the idea of the melting pot. In some places, such as New York, there has been more substantial cultural exchange and evolution as new immigrants have arrived. However, Woodard attributes this to the original character of “New Netherland,” which was multicultural from the start.