Stacey Abrams, in Maine, urges fight against voter suppression

Stacey Abrams, the Georgia legislator who narrowly lost a controversial gubernatorial race in 2018 to the man who organized the state's voter purge, Secretary of State Brian Kemp, was in Portland last week, speaking at the University of New England on the occasion of Martin Luther King, Jr. day.

She got into the race after spending years organizing to turn out African-American, Latino, and young voters and boosted their turnout massively. Meanwhile Kemp was engaging in what she describes as voter suppression, a challenge to democracy she urged the audience -- which included Gov. Janet Mills -- to help confront.

Read about it my story for the Portland Press Herald.

Right whales in crisis: speeding ships and missing calves

The disastrous year for the North Atlantic right whale, the world's second most endangered mammal after the species' Pacific cousin, doesn't appear to be abating. After seventeen of the whales have been found dead since June in New England and Atlantic Canada -- more than three percent of the total worldwide population of 450 -- scientists warned the species will be extinct in another 23 years if something doesn't change.

But the most recent news only increases anxiety about the whales: a series of speeding violations by ships in a zone of the Gulf of St. Lawrence set up by Canada to protect the whales and, separately, an absence of calf sightings on the whales calving grounds off Georgia and northeastern Florida.

I have the full story on these and other developments in the whales' odyssey in this week's Maine Sunday Telegram.

I reported last summer for the Press Herald about the right whale die off, with some additional background about the species and how its been monitored. I've reported on the species on and off for  a decade for other publications, context you can find by starting here.

Speaking on Blackbeard and the pirates, seacoast Georgia, Aug. 17

For those in and near the Georgia seacoast, I'll be speaking on Blackbeard and the golden age pirates this Thursday, August 17, at the Coastal Georgia Historical Society on St. Simons Island. It's the subject of my third book, The Republic of Pirates: Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down.

The event, part of their Chautauqua Lecture Series, kicks off at 6pm at the society's A.W Jones Event Center. The series has a subscription charge, details herein.

Hope to see you there.

Talking American Nations with Cracked

I had an enjoyable and extended conversation with the good people at Cracked.com -- producers of the popular Cracked Podcast-- about my most recent book, American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America. It posted earlier this week.

Here's their synopsis:

On today's podcast Cracked editors Jack O'Brien, Kristi Harrison and Jason Pargin discuss America's crazy regional differences, and talk with Colin Woodard (author of 'American Nations') about his claim that the fifty American states are actually eleven distinct nations. Whether the land you live on was conquered by Spain (Florida), France (Louisiana), stuffy British slave lords (the South) or Braveheart (Appalachia) determines how you view the government, law and so much more.

I've also just given an American Nations keynote talk here in Atlanta at the Governing Georgia Leadership Forum. Thanks much to all who attended. Back in Maine shortly.

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.