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The primary source is the Greenland chapter in Jared Diamond's "Collapse Another book on the pre-Columbian North American ivory trade is Farley Mowat's "the Far Farer's Mowat's book "West Viking" in 1961 had endorsed the theory that the Vikings had really made it to North America. When they found the Viking settlement at L'anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland. Mowat realized that it was not an agricultural settlement but a pirate outpost to prey on existing shipping.
Even Columbus sailed off the shores of Greenland in 1477. His brother was in Bristol England advocating for a trans-Atlantic voyage, when Columbus made his first 1492 voyage. When news of his success reached England, the Bristol traders sent Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot) to re-establish their trade with North America. They made more money off fish and fur than the Spanish made in gold.
Thomas Sowell and a number of others have argued African American hip hop culture is basically white redneck behavior, Sowell in "Black Rednecks And White Liberals" which I'm about to begin. Colin Woodward's "American Nation's" touches on this as well, as do other authors who've penned books on the topic, although his book is more about all of the regional cultures that make up our country dating back to the groups that founded those regions and how their beliefs are still resoundingly alive and well and how politicians actively exploit these differences we have between one another. There are other academics I've heard doing research like this but I'm having trouble recall their names, I heard about them in some podcasts. But, there's definitely more reading you can do to explore this idea more.
Amazon links to check out both titles I mentioned:
https://www.amazon.com/American-Nations-History-Regional-Cultures/dp/0143122029
Not even remotely.
For a better and much more comprehensive view, read American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America by Collin Woodard.
First and foremost: the Scandinavian ancestry and cultural values that came with it.
Pretty much everything else people have listed flows from that: work ethic, practicality, emphasis on education, mix of capitalism can-do attitude and well funded social programs.
Scandinavian countries usually rank really highly worldwide in all of the things you mentioned. Minnesota is an extension of that.
It's a good reminder that "white" people in America are not homogenous. Check out the book American Nations by Colin Woodard. He doesn't go into Minnesota so specifically, as I recall, but he covers the vastly different histories and backgrounds of the people that regions of our country were populated by and how much those original values and principles still explain politics and such today.
American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America https://www.amazon.com/American-Nations-History-Regional-Cultures-ebook/dp/B0052RDIZA
People today aren't 10 times smarter than people 200 years ago, but they are 10 times richer. When you are comparing two rates that are rapidly rising, a slight head start means a huge discrepancy.
The IQ of a region obviously isn't sufficient for prosperity (look at the Koreas), and any model that tries only using IQ is super simplistic and will get you basically nowhere.
If you want details, there are books on the topic.
> He was not an environmentalist. The very idea is ludicrous.
Ludicrous! Preposterous! The very idea!
> And your attempt to cast an innocent girl into the Nazi uniform is really quite out there. Wayyyyy out there.
Yes, when I said I didn’t care what Lindsay Shepard believes, what I actually meant was that I care passionately what she believes, and it’s Nazism.
> She shares no philosophical characteristics with Hitler.
Except the two you just admitted, which is vegetarianism and animal welfare. And in your math, 2=0.
> The fact I like beef doesn't make me Churchill.
There’s a difference between arguing that vegetarianism doesn’t disprove Nazism and that vegetarianism proves Nazism. Keep up, kiddo.
> And Adolph wasn't in a romantic relationship with another ethnicity.
I didn’t claim he was. So, three-for-four? Not that that would’ve changed anything of your opinion anyway, so it’s kind of irrelevant, isn’t it.
> Nor was he ever a SJW.
Now what are you arguing? That Sheperd is an SJW? Or that I am? Or that I’m a Nazi?
> Of course you will, because first of all, that is not what I said, and second of all, you have no effective counter to the argument I did make.
You’re right. Of the tens of thousands of stupid arguments being made on the Internet at any one time, I engage in all of them all the time except the ones I can’t counter.
I feel like I’m competing in the Logic Olympics tonight but the other teams didn’t show up.
> "nation to nation" relationship
Warning - probably sounds pedantic. sorry.
'Nation' is often confused with 'state' - with states being legal, political entities with borders. 'Nations' being <em>cultural</em>, political entities, but no borders.
Add to that and the our constitution recognizes that bands have legal standing equal to the federal government, and nation to nation makes sense.
(Provinces, unlike bands, have essentially delegated authority. Even though areas of authority - health, education, etc are delegated. Municipalities have an even lower level of authority. Only the Federal government has the 'authority' to negotiate with the bands, regardless of issue.)
Being a completely separate 'nation' within a state is pretty much normal for most of North America.
I mean this guy wrote an entire book (I haven't read it) explaining these so-called nations. Eastern California and N Dakota are both mostly rural republican places with a libertarian bend. New York City does have a pretty distinct culture with way more immigrants than lots of other areas and just generally feels like it's a world unto itself. New Orleans and Quebec is a little shaky, but LA is different than the rest of the south and I suppose he didn't want to make another category. Maine and Minnesota don't lean either super republican or super democrat. Minnesota is pretty distinct, but it is definitely part of a greater area if not this "nation". Bob Dylan (native Minnesotan) famously said "the nation I come from is called the Midwest".
I agree, but boy I wish there was an updated version of it. It's data is before H.W. Bush.
I spoke too soon. I was going to leave an amazon link and found this from 2012:
If you studied history you would know white countries were the most technologically advanced and were the greater military power, this is an objective historical fact.
I never said it was that way because they are white, It's largely down to geography, I subscribe to the Jared Diamond view of Guns, Germs and Steel. Perhaps you should read it and educate yourself.
My mother is half Arab and is darker skinned, my father is not. Yes I identify as white does that make me a white nationalist now?
Do you know what white nationalism is? It means you want a nation full of white people and to kick all the other races out, never advocated anything like that for one second.
Try again bud.
The northeast colonies were drawn mostly according to some natural boundaries, but the lateral borders of southern colonies were simply drawn from the Eastern shore endlessly to the west. In theory, for example, North Carolina stretched all the way to the Pacific at that point.
For most of the large, squared off mid western and mountain states, Congress simply created them and aligned their borders with degrees of latitude and longitude.
there are numerous small examples (the border between Kentucky and Tennessee, for example) that are interesting stories by themselves. Go look for a book called How the State Got their Shapes.
This is actually real and represents the divide between the Deep South (redneck) culture and Appalachian (hillbilly) culture. As a black guy from the south I’d say that you should visit areas around the mountains (Asheville, NC is pretty cool) if you’re interested in southern culture with less of the negative stereotypes. There’s also a pretty cool book 11 Nations of America that goes into this in more detail
Dobro pitanje, hvala. Uzeh knjižicu kojom sam bila oduševljena kao tinejdžerka, "Almodovarova teorema", od Antoni Kazas Rosa. Prevedena je samo na nekolicinu jezika, francuski, turski i srpski koliko znam, nešto tako. Na engleskom je nema.
Sećam se da sam u njoj saznala za Aphex Twin, i da mi je svaka rečenica bila toliko pitka i značajna da sam mislila bih je mogla istetovirati na sebe.
Fast forward, nisam mogla ni da je završim, mislim da sam je prerasla ili sam samo predugo u apatiji za svu tu romantiku. Ali preporučujem je možda za jedno čitanje.
Sad sam počela da čitam Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World, da razumem malo bolje svet. Spoiler: Kosovo je već u predgovoru.
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A ti?
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American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America.
https://www.amazon.com/American-Nations-History-Regional-Cultures/dp/0143122029
Read that and you will see things all over that you never noticed before.
Can I make a book recommendation? Read or listen to American Nations
https://www.amazon.com/American-Nations-History-Regional-Cultures/dp/0143122029
Much of what confuses you is deeply entrenched in the cultural values of the people who originally settled the varying regions of the United States, and explains the political divides among those regions.
I own a passport and have lived in three different countries, including France and Germany (where I live right now).
My point still stands that a lot of things that Europeans don’t actually think about, are actually state issues in the US. For example, the laws on the roads. The laws can be different from state to state. In some states in the US, for example, you’re legally not allowed to pump your own gas. In some states you’re legally not allowed to make a u-turn. In some states you are allowed to turn right on red, but in others you are not. I understand that America is not the only federation in the world, but I am saying that there is, I think (I may be wrong) a greater amount of variability between the different states with regards to their laws than there generally is in other countries. If you have evidence that this isn’t the case, I’d be glad to hear it.
My point also stands, as is well documented, that there are several distinct cultural groups in the US which are distinctly different from one another. I wasn’t claiming that this is the only country in the world to have different groups, but generally you hear online about “Americans are…” when really it only applies to whatever group within America they are talking about. New Englanders are very different from Midwesterners who are very different from Southerners and so on. If you dont believe me, read about it here
And obviously I was not talking about Russia. Russia is the largest country in the world by size.
But thank you for being incredibly judgmental and condescending.
Books, especially books of short stories, or where each chapter is self-contained, so you can more or less just pick it up and read at random. In the US, a good example would be How The States Got Their Shapes.
Likewise, magazines.
Puzzle books. I love doing word finds and can waste several hours doing those.
Music. Fill up your phone's SD card with tunes, or download as many Spotify playlists as you need.
But mostly lots and lots of video. You can download shows\movies for offline viewing on Netflix and Prime Video, and I'm sure others. There are also the typical pirate sites, and there are YouTube downloaders as well. I've found over the years that it's better to "spread your preferences out" - you might think you wanna binge all four seasons of Stranger Things on your flight... but you might not be in the mood that day. So it's better to download one season (series) of four different shows than four seasons of one show.
Lastly: snacks. Eating just to pass the time isn't the best thing for your waistline, but flying is an exception. If you're prone to motion sickness, Gin Gins ginger candy (or your local equivalent) can really help... but you need to start eating them at least 30 minutes before you get on the plane.
Taliban had mountains that they entrenched themselves in. See the book Prisoners of Geography Afghanistan is essentially a giant valley and so even the US marines aiding there were at a significant disadvantage, coupled with the corruption within the Afgani military as well as religious intimidation within their ranks by the Taliban.
Al shabaab doesn't appear to have a similar geopolitical advantage.
The 11 cultures of the United States
https://smile.amazon.com/American-Nations-History-Regional-Cultures/dp/0143122029
This book has been a better primer for understanding the culture of the part of the US you're going to land in more than anything else I've found.
Yes, we're all Americans but we value different things, we live different lives, we're not all alike. While I don't agree with it 100%, this will give you a much better idea of what you're walking into culturally so you can integrate overall.
An entirely different part of the country with a different culture.
Here's a cheat code.
https://smile.amazon.com/American-Nations-History-Regional-Cultures/dp/0143122029
Ozarkian culture is a direct descendant of Appalachian culture and the rest of midwest immigrant culture blended. That's what you live in. How we think, what we value, the things we see as socially acceptable are likely different than what you expect.
This book isn't perfect, but it's a really helpful start to integrate.
Colin Woodward's American nations specifically chapters 8 and 16 on what he calls the midlands will give you a good view of the cultural history and vibe of St. Louis.
Good book reference:
American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America
So sorry - so frustrating! You may have heard of this excellent book: American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America, by Colin Woodard.
It describes exactly what happened to your mom. “Greater Appalachia was populated by waves of immigrants from the borders of Northern Ireland, northern England, and the Scottish lowlands” & brought with them a stubborn distrust of government.
Sounds like she’s living out the path she was born on. So sorry you have to deal with this, but bravo for breaking the generational chains.
The fact that you seem to think I support wars of conquest because I accurately identified the borders of my nation is insane. You are a contentious, silly person who has written a page of nonsense attacking political beliefs that you made up in your head and no one here supports. It does not warrant my time to respond to. You know nothing of my people nor my land, and are only here out of hobbyist curiosity. I don't care what you think about us. You have no business in my people's matters.
If you'd like to know more about my people, you can read this book. But please stay out of our affairs.
Good read. Yep, it's surprising how many of our divisions can be traced to the different people who came from Europe. There's a thread on this sub from yesterday "Two fundamentally irreconcilable constitutional visions" which is a good example of the historic splits.
Here's a book that picks up more than just the British
An easy read and enlightening.
Yes, although the map above is way off. Start with Colin Woodward's American Nations.
For example, we think of Ohio as a swing state. It's not. It's a split state- Appalachian in the south and midwestern in the north.
Even without the political stuff, If you start to travel a lot and really meet people, you can see that there are really distinct cultures across the US that are not entirely compatible with each other.
Many state boundaries were adjusted from their original territories in order to gain access to navigable rivers that could reach the ocean. A lot of this is covered in this book and its accompanying TV series.
https://www.amazon.com/How-States-Got-Their-Shapes/dp/0061431397
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_the_States_Got_Their_Shapes
Lol, the church didn't stop progress, they helped it by being responsible for saving and archiving the classical works that sparked the renaissance. You really need to pick up an history book (I recommend this one) if you think that the cultural, societal and technological collapse of Europe after the fall of Rome was because of the church.
Plus at the time of the "dark ages", Europe was an irrelevant continent anyway, the most techonologically progressed regions were China and the Middle East.
> mainly to experience as much of America that I can afford
So this is kind of a sticking point. The rest is great. What you're going to experience is that state or region and specifically college life in said state or region.
The US has a bunch of different subcultures and values. I would suggest the following book and see where both college and culture match up for you.
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/0143122029
While this isn't perfect, this does give you a good idea. For example, my part of the world doesn't put a strong emphasis on education, it does on competence for work. Can you do the job matters vastly more than your degree, even in professional settings where degrees aren't absolutely mandatory for furthering education like lawyers or pharmacists.
This isn't necessarily true of parts of the Northeast. Where you went to school very much matters more in landing a job or their culture.
So, OP, it's very much a question of not only what school and what program you want, but also what culture you want? A farmer in Nebraska has precious little in common in day to day life with an accountant who lives in a high rise in Miami.