Is Pittsburgh in the Midlands?

In the seven years since American Nations was published, most readers have endorsed their county's placement among the eleven regional cultures I write about in the book. Two locations have generated some sustained pushback, however, both of them border cities on the Midland-Greater Appalachia frontier: Columbus, Ohio (assigned to Greater Appalachia in large part because of lingual evidence) and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (a clear-cut Midland city in my reading of history, but surrounded on three sides by Greater Appalachia.)

This week, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette staff columnist Brian O'Neill revisited his city's regional identity in this column, where he emphasizes its competing influences and seems to concede that calling it Appalachia might not be sufficient. It's a nice synopsis from the field, and represents a bit of a shift from our friendly debate in 2013, when O'Neill lamented the city's Midland designation (it's "the Paris of Appalachia" he insisted.)

As for Columbus, I've heard both pro and con arguments from readers there for its Appalachian designation, but nothing from the city's intelligentsia. Let's hope they weigh in one of these days -- the Cleveland Plain Dealer did in regards to the Western Reserve's Yankee character in comparison with southern Ohio's Appalachian one -- but not a word from the Dispatch.

[Update, 1/1/2019: O'Neill revisited this topic again in December.]

Ohio, Oregon media consider American Nations-guided secession

As readers of American Nations probably know, I'm not a fan of the idea of breaking up the United States, for reasons I outlined more directly in this book review I did for Washington Monthly a few years back. (In short: why would we expect it to turn out peacefully?)

Still, there's something to be said for some states wanting to reconfigure their own borders in ways that better reflect the centuries-old cultural fissures on the continent. This talk has been growing of late, with a split up of California often at the top of the list.

Consider just the past week. Newspapers in two less-discusssed states with massive cultural fault lines -- Oregon and Ohio -- floated secession ideas rooted in American Nations' map.

The first, from the Cleveland Plain-Dealer's digital arm, Cleveland.com, muses about Ohio's (New England-settled) Western Reserve becoming the 51st state. (For some more on their overarching topic -- the differences between Cleveland and Cincy -- check out this piece in Cincinnati Magazine.)

The second, from the other Portland's Willamette Week, considers multiple scenarios for dividing the state and the Pacific Northwest. Sadly, they inform us that the American Nations approach is politically unviable because, as they put it, "who wants to show a passport just to visit Pendleton?" (I had to look that up too: it's a small town in eastern Oregon.)

If you're new to this American Nations stuff and want to learn more, try this piece or, of course, the book itself.

Cleveland Indians were named for a Penobscot; they want Chief Wahoo to go

In today's Portland Press Herald, I have the story of Louis Sockalexis, the Penobscot baseball star for whom the Cleveland Indians are named. His tribe, the Penobscot Nation here in Maine, have asked the club to retire not the name, but rather the controversial "Chief Wahoo" logo and mascot. The team has declined to respond or engage them for sixteen years.

Now Cleveland is in the World Series, and the commissioner of baseball is putting some extra pressure on. Read on from the link for all the details.

The last time I thought about Cleveland was this summer, when I visited the city to write about the re-imagining of Public Square and its other civic spaces for POLITICO.

How Cleveland renewed its outdoor civic spaces ahead of the RNC

My latest installment for Politico's "What Works" series on successful urban innovations is a mini-story from Cleveland, Ohio, where a public-private partnership has aimed to renew and reconnect the city's outdoor public spaces, especially Public Square, the one-time New England-style public common at the heart of the city

Cleveland, where the Republican National Convention is about to open, has an incredible legacy in this regard, having been the location of the greatest manifestation of "City Beautiful" era planning outside of Washington, DC. The current investments key off the 1903 Group Plan, developed by a team led by Daniel Burnham (of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair "White City" fame) and modeled on Paris's Place de la Concorde.

Thanks to KCRW, the NPR affiliate in Santa Monica, California, for their interest in the piece. My
interview with their show "dna: Design and Architecture" airs Tuesday. [Update, 7/21/16: here's the interview.]

In addition to this article, I've written four full-length "What Works" pieces this year: on how Des Moines went from dull to cool; how Manchester, New Hampshire turned its vast 19th century millyard to spinning high-tech gold; on how Denver built its game-changing light rail system, only to discover its most powerful effects were not what they'd expected; and on how Cincinnati transformed "America's most dangerous neighborhood."

How Cincinnati transformed the "nation's most dangerous neighborhood"

My latest installment for Politico's "What Works" series on successful urban innovations is on how Cincinnati, Ohio transformed Over-the-Rhine -- a neighborhood that in 2009 was declared the nation's most dangerous -- into perhaps the most happening and sought after place in the city, and did so in the proverbial blink of an eye.

The controversial bit, as you'll read, is that the city accomplished this by outsourcing the problem to the corporate community, which funded and govern a private non-profit tasked with executing the neighborhood's rescue. That they've succeeded in turning the neighborhood around is undeniable and an extremely impressive feat. But have they avoided simply gentrifying Over-the-Rhine? Long-time residents aren't so sure.

Don't miss Mark Peterson's brilliant photo essay from Over-the-Rhine as well.

Thanks to Cincinnati's ABC affiliate, WCPO, for featuring the story on their Friday news cast, and to NBC affiliate WLWT for plugging it earlier that morning.

This is my fourth "What Works" piece as a POLITICO Magazine contributing editor. The others were on how Des Moines went from dull to cool; how Manchester, New Hampshire turned its vast 19th century millyard to spinning high-tech gold; and how Denver built its game-changing light rail system, only to discover its most powerful effects were not what they'd expected.

Where am I off to next? Hint: lots of mothballed ships.

Bowling Green (Ky.) Daily News reviews American Character

I was in Kentucky briefly earlier this week, signing some copies of American Character at Newport's Barnes & Noble en route to CVG, so it seems appropriate that the Bowling Green Daily News just reviewed said book, and glowingly so.

Thanks to Western Kentucky University's Aaron Hughey for the kind words. "“American Character” is an eye-opening critique and analysis that should be read by anyone interested in the future direction of our republic," he concludes. "I recommend it highly."

For those in Ohio, there are now signed copies of this and other titles at The Booksellers on Fountain Square in downtown Cincinnati and at the B&N in Columbus's Polaris Mall.

Talking American Nations in Oxford, Ohio, April 25

For those of you in southwestern Ohio, I'll be giving the McConnell Lecture at Miami University in Oxford this coming Friday afternoon on American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America.

The talk, hosted by the Geography, Political Science, and History departments, starts at 2:30 in Schideler Hall, and there's a reception afterward to come speak informally. It's free and open to the public. More details in the poster image here:

Earlier this month, I gave my American Nations talks at the Governing Leadership Forums in Lansing, Michigan (Yankeedom) and College Park, Maryland (on the edge of Tidewater), and to Arlington, Virginia's Serious Book Club, and enjoyed all three. My next public talk isn't until July 14, however, when I'll be talking Republic of Pirates at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.

[Update, 4/30/14: Here's a little write up of my Miami University talk from their communications office. Enjoyed my visit to Oxford.]

Super Tuesday and the American Nations

I'm pleased to note that the results of the ten "Super Tuesday" G.O.P. nominating contests fit very nicely with the political geography outlined in American Nations. Newt Gingrich, for instance, can't manage to win a single county in the regional cultures I call Yankeedom and the Midlands, which makes his nomination all but impossible. Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum also have striking regional strengths and weaknesses, explaining their county-by-county performances in (culturally-divided) battleground states like Ohio.

But I ramble. For a discussion of all of this, check out my latest piece over at Washington Monthly's Ten Miles Square.

On the 2011 elections, the Tea Party,and the American Nations at Washington Monthly

For those interested in what the American Nations paradigm might have to say in regards to the results of the 2011 off-year election, please have a look at my blog posting on the topic over at Washington Monthly's Ten Miles Square.

In short: results in Maine, Ohio, and Kentucky indicate that the Tea Party is in trouble not just in the sprawling "nation" I call Yankeedom and its allies -- the topic of my feature in the current print issue of the magazine -- but in the Midlands and Greater Appalachia as well. A Deep Southern political agenda -- and that's what the Tea Party and, foolishly, the governors of Maine, Ohio, and Wisconsin have partially embraced -- is alienating the mainstream in these other regional cultures, none of which embrace the notion that the society should be organized around the interests of an oligarchy.

For more on this, I welcome you -- nay, beg you -- to read the book.