In Reply to: So what are we? Left Coast, Norte, or Far West? posted by Enlightened on April 29, 2026 at 11:05:25
Defined by its Mexican past. North of that is Left Coast, which is institutionally Yankeedom (at least institutionally) but with some significant divergence.
The interesting part is El Norte is not just the strip inside the US but extends into Northern Mexico, the locus of various revolutionary movements in Mexico, as distinct from the Mexico City area and Mexican South.
Far West is what you would expect: Inland California, along with Eastern Oregon and Washington, stretching into the Mountain states. The economy in those areas may not be idenitical but there is some kinship. Which takes me to criticisms I've seen of this book: most of them focus on the fact that the picture is not complete or deep enough. It does not have much to say about the African American culture in Deep South or the Asian influence on Left Coast, etc, which is a very valid criticism, but I don't think it takes anything away from the validity of the core idea as a starting point. The more we think about it, the deeper we go, very likely the picture will start shifting and the interaction between the cultural strata will come into sharper focus. But for us, lay people, this is a good first draft that prompts us to think of America in clearer terms.
Here is the map om the bookL
And here's a map that he apparently worked out later, adding a few other smaller (or peripheral) nations that makes it more comprehensive.
