The author of ‘American Nations’ examines the history of and solutions to the key American question: how do we best reconcile individual liberty with the maintenance of a free society?

Maintaining a liberal democracy, a society where mass human freedom is possible, requires finding a balance between protecting individual liberty and nurturing a free society. Going to either libertarian or collectivist extremes results in tyranny. But where does the ‘sweet spot’ lie in the United States, a federation of disparate regional cultures that have always clashed on these issues?

Colin Woodard leads readers on a riveting journey through centuries of struggle, experimentation, successes and failures to find an answer. WIth its historically informed and pragmatic solutions on how to break the nation's political deadlock, ‘American Character’ will be of interest to anyone who cares about the current American predicament.