Reddit mentions of Our Patchwork Nation: The Surprising Truth about the 'Real' America

This assumes America is or was one culture. Different historians classify people differently, but in the broadest sense there are at least:

1. Yankee
   
2. Southern (Dixie + Appalachian)
   
3. Midland
   
4. Western/Native/Frontier/Spanish
   
   Embedded in these groups is the idea of a founding culture (going back centuries) that informs attitudes and ideals. To your point regarding skepticism toward education, I think that's a feature primarily of the Appalachian group who were founded by one of the last waves of British immigrants. Glossing over a lot of history: they were poor, desperate, war-torn, and generally uneducated. Late to the party and culturally incompatible with many of the existing colonists, they headed for the hills and subsisted in a romantic but precarious manner. This is where we get the frontiersman and the rugged individualist myth. While tied to "southern" culture (for a number of interesting reasons that we will ignore for simplicity of this comment), they're really pretty distinct. For whatever reasons, this group has asserted itself and suggested their version of "American culture" is the correct one--and we've been living through this friction for a while.
   
   For a layperson, I suggest the following for further reading:
   
   

• https://www.amazon.com/American-Nations-History-Regional-Cultures/dp/0143122029
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Our-Patchwork-Nation-Surprising-America/dp/B0045BQT14/
  
  If you're up for a more academic and thorough examination:
  
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Albions-Seed-British-Folkways-cultural/dp/0195069056/
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Bound-Away-Virginia-Westward-Movement/dp/0813917743/