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Colin Woodard

Colin Woodard

Colin Woodard is a journalist and historian, and the author of six books including Union: The Struggle to Forge the Story of United States Nationhood. He lives in Maine.

A hand-colored map from 1860 depicts parts of Manhattan,  Brooklyn, Hoboken and Jersey City. 

The Time When New York City Seriously Considered Seceding From the United States

A culture clash driven by finances and Old World alignments had the Big Apple contemplating leaving the Union. The Civil War ended that

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How the Myth of the American Frontier Got Its Start

Frederick Jackson Turner’s thesis informed decades of scholarship and culture. Then he realized he was wrong

For generations, Americans have sought to understand the sense of shared destiny—or perhaps, civic obligation—that forged the nation.

The Pitfalls and Promise of America’s Founding Myths

Maintaining a shared sense of nationhood has always been a struggle for a country defined not by organic ties, but by a commitment to a set of ideals

The Last Days of Blackbeard

An exclusive account of the final raid and political maneuvers of history’s most notorious pirate

Sam Osmanagich claims that 12,000 years ago, early Europeans built "the greatest pyramidal complex" on earth, in Bosnia.

The Mystery of Bosnia’s Ancient Pyramids

An amateur archaeologist says he’s discovered the world’s oldest pyramids in the Balkans. But many experts remain dubious