Our Patchwork Nation: The Surprising Truth About the 'Real' America

A lecture by the author, Dante Chinni
Project Director, Patchwork Nation

From the Publisher:

'Our Patchwork Nation' is a comprehensive look at who we are as a country and where we are going using Patchwork Nation's 12 community types and examining what they mean for the the nation's Economic,
Political and Cultural future.

Our Patchwork Nation has been called, 'a captivating and at times surprising analysis, both rigorous and accessible' by Kirkus Reviews. The PBS NewsHour's Jim Lehrer, says Our Patchwork Nation is 'a book to keep always at your side and in your mind.' And the Washington Post's E.J. Dionne calls it 'a wonderful book that takes us way beyond red and blue - while also explaining the social, regional and economic roots of our partisan and ideological color wars.'


About Patchwork Nation

Patchwork Nation is a reporting project that aims to explore what is happening in the United States by examining different kinds of communities over time. The effort divides the United States' 3,141 counties into 12 community types based on certain demographic characteristics, such as income level, racial composition, employment and religion. Launched as a Christian Science Monitor project by Dante Chinni and Professor James Gimpel to cover the 2008 election, Patchwork Nation has evolved to cover more communities and more topics, focusing on the economy and culture as well as politics. You can find more information about the project at wwww.patchworknation.org


About Dante Chinni

Dante Chinni is the director of Patchwork Nation. Based in Washington, D.C., he has been covering politics and the media for more than 10 years. Chinni has worked as a reporter-researcher at Newsweek and a senior associate at the Project for Excellence in Journalism. A native of Detroit and a graduate of Michigan State University, he lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife, Christina, and their two children.


About the Center for Public Policy in Diverse Societies

The Diversity Center promotes cutting-edge, inter-disciplinary research, educational opportunities and dialogue to improve the design and implementation of public policy in an increasingly complex and diverse society. The Center creates an intellectual focal point for research on the policy implications of diverse societies locally, nationally, and internationally.

Sponsored by: The Center for Public Policy in Diverse Societies, the Office of the Vice President for Communications, the Office of the Vice President for Government Relations, the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, and the National Center for Institutional Diversity.