American Character: A History of the Epic Struggle Between Individual Liberty and the Common Good
Written by Colin Woodard
Narrated by Jonathan Yen
4/5
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About this audiobook
Colin Woodard
COLIN WOODARD is a Pulitzer Prize finalist and award-winning author of American Nations: A History of The Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America, The Lobster Coast: Rebels, Rusticators, and the Struggle for a Forgotten Frontier, and Ocean’s End: Travels Through Endangered Seas. He is State & National Affairs Writer at the Portland Press Herald, where he won a George Polk Award for his investigative reporting. His writing has appeared in Smithsonian, the Economist, the Washington Post, and many other national and international publications. He lives in midcoast Maine.
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Reviews for American Character
24 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What is more important? An individual's right's or the common good of the community? This is the subject Woodard has taken on. He discusses the struggle between the two over the length of our countrie's history. I was surprised that the question first came up long ago, way back during the original conventions to draft our Constitution. Woodard does an admirable job of describing the problem throughout our history, finding that sometimes the pendulum swings towards the individual, sometimes towards the overall good of society. It is evident that the struggle will continue in the future, and that it is important that the balance does not tilt to far either way. Along the way, the author presents a good job of presenting facts, seemingly not having an agenda towards either side of the argument. I feel that this is an important book for the current times, as our government seems to be frozen in place, with neither side willing to work towards an acceptable, balanced solution. If we don't fix it soon, woe onto us!The book was well written, flowed nicely, and was extensively documented with footnotes. A good read!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I was giving this book by Goodreads First-Reads program in exchange for a review.
This was a very entertaining and interesting and readable book. Very intelligent, interesting, engaging, and showing the 'character' of America from landfall to 2015-2016. The book does a great job detailing libertarians, and conservatives, spenders and cut-backs; Republicans and Democrats (and Whigs - and Tea Party - and even independents to a degree). For the majority of the book there is no real leaning or political bias or any bias of any sort... until you get to the end, and then it comes shining through a bit - but it's not 'rose tinted glasses' biasness and it doesn't really detract from the work or the information. Overall, a very informative book that many should read to get a better grasp of American politics and how people view spending vs. not-spending, view things like Welfare, Medicare, Social Security, gun control, etc.