Jeff Daniels discovers American Nations

Jeff Daniels has been driving sell out crowds to New York's Shubert Theater to see his performance of Atticus Finch in Aaron Sorkin's new adaptation of To Kill A Mockingbird. Parade Magazine, that insert in what remains of America's Sunday newspapers, interviewed him for this past Sunday's cover profile.

It's a compelling profile on a timely topic -- Atticus Finch is a lawyer defending a falsely accused black man in 1930s Alabama -- and a worthwhile read. But the self-interested reason I'm talking about it here is, at the end, he's asked his "Fave Read." His answer: American Nations. "It's fascinating," he says in what are the last lines of the feature. "It's all about how this country developed and why we are the way we are. We've never been one nation under God. It was always 11 nations."

Daniels first mentioned my book in a tweet  November 4th -- in fact, the title was the only thing the tweet said. The play opened December 13th, so I want to imagine he picked it up while thinking about regionalism and the Deep South of the 1930s. Or maybe he just wanted an escape. Either way, thanks Jeff for the kind plug.

AMERICAN NATIONS by Colin Woodard.

— Jeff Daniels (@Jeff_Daniels) November 5, 2018

Politically minded television viewers will remember Daniels' famous speech in the pilot to Sorkin's television series, The Newsroom, where he plays a Yankee Republican distressed about the direction of the country, his party and all.

For contrast, the last celebrity to go out of their way to mention the book was the idiosyncratic Glenn Beck.

Warming of Gulf of Maine choking right whale food supply

In recent years, the endangered North Atlantic right whale has effectively abandoned summer feeding grounds in the eastern Gulf of Maine, showing up instead in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, where many were mowed down by ships before officials realized what was happening and impemented a speed ban.

Now scientists appear to have nailed down why they moved. As I reported in yesteday's Portland Press Herald, the warming of the Gulf of Maine has decimated the copepod the right whales feed on, forcing them to look elsewhere for sustenance. Details in the story.

Scientists have said the right whale could go extinct by 2040, after a spate of deaths. Last year was one of the warmest on record in the Gulf of Maine.

For more on the warming of the Gulf, copepods, and a lot of other context, consider this 2015 series.

Speaking on American Nations, Needham, Mass., June 5

I'll be speaking about North American regionalism and its effects on U.S. politics, history, identity and most everything else in the western Boston suburb of Needham on Sunday, June 5 at 7 pm.

The talk, based on American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America, is the keynote for the annual meeting of the Friends of the Needham Public Library and is free and open to the public. It takes place at the library, 1139 Highland Avenue (directions and parking information here.)

Delighted to see any metro Boston readers who can make it.