As we get ready to mark the country’s 250th anniversary, we are still struggling to reconcile deep-seated disagreements over policies, beliefs, and values. There are many ways to define those differences: red and blue, urban and rural, male and female, young and old, native and immigrant.

Historian Colin Woodard says our geography has long shaped our views about what it means to be an American and about the role of government. His new book, Nations Apart, shows how early colonists, with their conflicting views of individual liberty and the common good, created “an awkward federation of distinct regional cultures” that still exists today. He writes that it’s these 11 regions, with their unique narratives and traditions rather than the 50 states that drive our current conflicts over authoritarianism and democracy.

Colin Woodard joins us to discuss what’s pulling us apart and how we can create a more perfect union.