Free Lance-Star, Kennebec Journal reviews of American Character

I'm sharing two recent reviews of my new book, American Character: A History of the Epic Struggle Between Individual Liberty and the Common Good, one from the Virginia Tidewater, the other from Yankee Maine.

The Free Lance-Star, the daily in Fredericksburg, Virginia, had this review of the book recently. "A GPS through our country's political past and into our confounding present," says reviewer Dan Dervin.

The Lance-Star has had a long-standing interest in my previous book, American Nations, publishing my OpEd back in the 2012 presidential cycle and an analysis -- originally written for Washington Monthly's Ten Miles Square blog -- of the 2013 Virginia gubernatorial election.

Separately, Bill Bushnell, the books columnist at Maine's Kennebec Journal (Augusta) and Morning Sentinel (Waterville) dailies reviews the book in his latest column. "In American Character," he writes, "Woodard astutely examines the political, economic and social history of the U.S. over four centuries, explaining how the balance between individual freedoms and the common good has shifted dramatically, often with wide swings from one to the other."

Thanks to both papers for their interest in the book.

For those in Maine, I'll be speaking on American Character in Kennebunkport on July 10.