TUE BOOK REPORT OF OUR PATCHWORK NATION.doc

The book report of Our Patchwork Nation --by WangQian As a language learner, it not that mastering language skills matters, which is not unimportant, but that learning more about English-speaking countries’ economy, politics, culture and even every such a little social matters. At a result, reading a book is a good choice to “see” a country, maybe a small step, but it also counts. I am always wondering that how America makes itself so strong, how much different between one American and another American, how two parties function and so on. So Our Patchwork Nation is what I chose. “PATCHWORK” is an interesting word that means sewing consisting of pieces of different materials sewn together in a pattern. It makes me kind of puzzled. However, it suits perfectly after I finish reading. In a climate of culture wars and tremendous economic uncertainty, the media have often reduced America to a simplistic schism between red states and blue states. In response to that oversimplification, journalist Dante Chinni teamed up with political geographer James Gimpel to launch the Patchwork Nation project, using on-the-ground reporting and statistical analysis to get past generalizations and probe American communities in depth. The result is Our Patchwork Nation, a refreshing, sometimes startling, look at how Americas diversities often defy conventional wisdom. Capturing the meaning and nature of these vast economic, political and cultural differences among the 308 million people of America is no easy matter. The authors looked at the 3,141 counties that make up the United States. Using a host of variables—income, race, ethnicity, education level, religion, population and many more—Gimpel came up with 12 basic types of county-level communities, which include “Boom Towns,” “Campus and Careers,” “Evangelical Epicenters,” “Industrial Metropolis” and “Military Bastion.” A representative city or town was selected for each basic type—Ann Arbo