Info on American States?

[Malic]

Hi! I'm looking to fill in a gap in my history/geography/culture knowledge. Maybe someone on ENWorld can point me towards a good book? Though we hear a lot about 'America' (USA) in the media and some in school, it's kind of monolithic. I know there are lots of differences between 'North' and 'South', but not really much more about how diverse the country is, how the states are different and so on.

I searched on Amazon, but got tens of thousands of books, which all seemed to be about specific places or specific issues.

Can anyone suggest a book, or maybe a website or some other way of learning, that would give an overview about what all the different areas of the USA are like?

I'd really appreciate any suggestions. I hate having such a big gap in my library, as I have a fair bit of stuff about most other regions.

 

[Crothian]

I don't know of any one book that covers it all. Most states are pretty different and even inside some states like California and New York there are lots of differnece depending on where you are in the state.

 

[Del]

I might suggest history novelist James Michner (sp?).

He covers most the bigger stories of the different places in the USA.

 

[WayneLigon]

The only thing that comes to mind right off about differing American cultures is The Nine Nations of North America by Joel Garreau, but it's a little dated by now.

 

[Eltern]

America: The Book

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...002-3978623-0724807?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

Thomas Jefferson even wrote the forward!

 

[Joker]

America: The Book

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...002-3978623-0724807?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

Thomas Jefferson even wrote the forward!

Seconded .

 

[Greylock]

Good gosh, Malic. I hope you have money to spare. You'd be looking at a minimum of fifty seperate books. Most states have a lot of diversity contained in one set boundary. And the differences between states and regions can be pretty darned profound. Many Americans who think they know their country well, and are even well educated, can suffer severe culture shock if they move too far beyond their home state/region.

If you find one good book that explains it all, I'd like to read it too.

 

[RangerWickett]

Edit: Congratulations to me. On my first pass I got 44 of the 50 states! I only forgot 6. I missed Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, and Vermont.

The quickies (cliched and unfair, but a reasonable representation of what comes to mind for the typical American [meaning me]):

1. Alabama - Rural, full of racists, but birthplace of the Civil Rights movement.
   
2. Alaska - Big, cold, full of Eskimos and oil we can't use.
   
3. Arizona - Hot desert state with only two cities -- Tuscon and Phoenix.
   
4. Arkansas - Full of farms. Uninteresting except that former president Bill Clinton came from there.
   
5. California - The . . . seriously, these people are crazy. They elected Arnold Schwarzenegger as their governor!!! I mean, we rely on them for a lot of TV and movies, and they make enough food to probably feed half the world, but man do they do some crazy .
   
6. Colorado - The Grand Canyon is here, as well as a lot of mountains.
   
7. Connecticut - A New England state . . . they probably did something back during the Revolutionary War, but they're not interesting.
   
8. Delaware - Another New England state. They're all pretty much the same.
   
9. Florida - South-east USA. Home to Disney World, retired old people, and illegal immigrants from Cuba. It's hit by hurricanes a lot.
   
10. Georgia - A bunch of rednecks in the backwoods. Oddly, the capital city of Atlanta is cultured, and a major business hub (it has the second busiest airport in the US). Atlanta is the most prominent Southern city, and it representative of the difficult but successful prosperity of the south.
    
11. Hawaii - Island nation that is great to vacation at. It has volcanoes.
    
12. Idaho - They grow potatoes there.
    
13. Illinois - Chicago is a huge city with some history of blues music. Abraham Lincoln came from Illinois.
    
14. Indiana - About as rednecky as you can get with a state in the midwest. They have NASCAR car races, but they also have Gen Con.
    
15. Iowa - It's important for some reason, but all I know is that they farm.
    
16. Kansas - They farm here too, but Kansas was made famous by The Wizard of Oz, because Dorothy came from here.
    
17. Kentucky - A farm state. Kentucky Fried Chicken is no longer really associated with Kentucky, as popular fried chicken franchises have risen up in Louisiana.
    
18. Louisiana - Coolest state in America. New Orleans is home to the huge party Mardi Gras (during Carnivale), and for the rest of the year it's also pretty active with great music, great food, and hot weather. It's got style, but it doesn't take itself seriously at all. There are lots of swamps and alligators.
    
19. Maine - A far northern state on the east coast. Apparently they fish for lobsters there.
    
20. Maryland - A small state in New England.
    
21. Massachussettes - Boston is where a bunch of people who started the Revolutionary War came from. MIT is a big school that teaches technology and computers.
    
22. Michigan - They have a huge lake . . . if you look on the map, the lake actually cuts the state into two halves. Detroit is here. It has lots of crime and makes lots of cars.
    
23. Minnesota - See Montana, but with more snow.
    
24. Mississippi - The Mississippi River is the biggest river on the continent. So big, it actually goes through, like, 12 states. Mississippi used to be full of racists.
    
25. Missouri - *shrug*
    
26. Montana - There are lots of mountains here. It's out in the northwest, somewhere in or near the Rocky Mountains.
    
27. Nebraska - See Montana.
    
28. Nevada - A dry desert state. Las Vegas is here. Prostitution is legal.
    
29. New Hampshire - *shrug* It's a New England state, I think.
    
30. New Jersey - This is the state that New Yorkers make fun of, because it's right next door and not nearly as cool.
    
31. New Mexico - It's a desert state, a lot like Arizona, only a little less interesting.
    
32. New York - Aside from New York city, which is famous in its own right, the state of New York is relatively boring, like all other New England states.
    
33. North Carolina - The less interesting sister state of South Carolina.
    
34. North Dakota - A big frozen state on the border of Canada.
    
35. Ohio - It's a midwestern state.
    
36. Oklahoma - A farm state. There was a musical made about it, and in the 1930s, the Great Depression caused a lot of people to flee Oklahoma because they couldn't farm.
    
37. Oregon - A forested state between California and Washington, on the west coast.
    
38. Pennsylvania - Birthplace of the Declaration of Independence, in the city of Philadelphia. Philly is also known as the city of brotherly love, which was used in a bizarre tourism campaign recently, attempting to bring gay couples to visit.
    
39. Rhode Island - The smallest state, it has lots of islands and light houses. It's a New England state.
    
40. South Carolina - The headlining state for southern slavery back during the Civil War. It's nice and trendy now.
    
41. South Dakota - A big, less frozen state just south of North Dakota.
    
42. Tennessee - Elvish came from Tennessee. It has a lot of country music.
    
43. Texas - The biggest state (This is actually not true. However, even though Alaska is bigger, Texas is second biggest, and it has more interesting stuff). Cowboys come from here, and most people think it's mostly desert and cactus, though it actually wasn't involved in the Old West as much as people believe. We also have lots of oil. People in Texas think they could kick anyone else's ass. We have had two presidents named George Bush who were once governor of Texas, and they both had military operations in Iraq. Americans think of Texas like their crazy uncle -- kinda cool, pretty big, sometimes stupid, sometimes an ass, but all in all pretty popular.
    
44. Utah - A big state with Mormons.
    
45. Vermont - A northeastern state.
    
46. Virginia - Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the Declaration of Independence, came from here. Nowadays it's most important because it's next door to Washington, DC.
    
47. Washington - Not to be confused with the capital of the nation. Washington state is on the west coast, just south of Canada. Seattle is there, which is where grunge music came from. Nike is based out of here, and it's an evil corporation. Interestingly, Wizards of the Coast is also based here.
    
48. West Virginia - There's really no reason for this state to exist.
    
49. Wisconsin - They love football, beer, and cheese, and they're pretty good at all of them. Gen Con used to be here. It's where D&D came from.
    
50. Wyoming - Another one of those big states out west, like Montana and the Dakotas.

 

[Tarrasque Wrangler]

Colorado - The Grand Canyon is here, as well as a lot of mountains.

I think the state of Arizona might have something to say about that.

http://www.nps.gov/grca/

 

[Glyfair]

Delaware - Another New England state. They're all pretty much the same.

That's really funny, considering we are often considered a Southern state

We are right on the border, the northern county has more in common with Pennsylvania, the southern two more in common with Maryland. During the Civil War, we were considered one of the border states, the southern states that sided with the north.

Of course, you have Maryland listed as a New England state and that's even further from the truth.

*Hint* - You have to go north of New York City to hit New England.

Most states have a lot of diversity contained in one set boundary. And the differences between states and regions can be pretty darned profound.

Indeed, Delaware is the 2nd smallest state. However, we really have two culturally different areas - New Castle County and Lower Delaware (Kent and Sussex county). New Castle County is pretty tied into the Northeastern Corridor. The lower counties are much more rural in nature (indeed, they are sometimes referred to as "slower Delaware").