Seattle Times takes up American Nations

The ongoing decomposition of the republic may be a terrible thing for humanity, but it has driven interest in the American Nations thesis, which provides the historical background for the United States's existential crisis.

Case in point: this Sunday's lead story in the opinion section of the Seattle Times. That paper's staff cartoonist, David Horsey, is a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, and devoted both his artistic and literary skills to this package on how American Nations describes how we got here.

Here's a taste:

"Is it any surprise then that, in Left Coast Seattle, business leaders have rallied in good Yankee fashion to support hospitals and Gov. Inslee’s social distancing measures while, over the mountains in the “Far West” counties of Benton and Franklin, officials have tried to defy Inslee’s stay-at-home orders?

When we wonder why Americans seem so disunited, even in the midst of a pandemic that threatens us all, the answer may be simple: We are one country composed of several nations that have seldom seen things eye to eye."

Thanks to Horsey for giving voice (and a face) to the book and for doing such an excellent job summarizing its lessons for this moment.