American Character was a great read. It showed the history of the United States from the early colonization periods to the Recession of 2008. It detailed the Gilded Age and the age of big government.
American Character dived deep into the history of the United States, but through a different point of view. It showed it through the eyes of the struggle between individual liberty and the common good. This book helped me wrap my head around the history of the U.S., particularly the history of the American government. Colin Woodard used his own trips in college to Romania during the collapse of the U.S.S.R. to show how America could be and what defines an authoritarian regime. He ended the book with a chapter with his political philosophy about saving the Union from total collapse into the anarchy of 90s Romania.
