Albion's Seed
by David Hackett Fischer · first published 1989
67% recommend33% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Deep history tracing how four British regional cultures (Puritan, Quaker, Cavalier, Scots-Irish) shaped American regional differences, honor, accents and child-rearing. Suits readers wanting a rich account of US culture.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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…of it (same as most of its adherents). > I don't see awareness of historical or educational context. This is deeply ironic, although I don't expect you to be able to notice why. I suggest reading Albion's Seed and A Gentle Introduction to Unqualified Reservations.
on “Ask HN: If you’ve considered homeschooling, what’s stopping you?” ↗…This doesn't do much the problem of concentration of wealth (warlords as well as capitalists have high wealth concentration), and it creates sociological problems; for details in a familiar context, read Albion's Seed, specifically the section on the Borderers/hillbillies/Scotch-Irish. * State ownership of some productive capital (Britain after WWII) or basically all productive capital (the USSR). This works well…
on “Trump’s F.C.C. Pick Quickly Targets Net Neutrality Rules” ↗…and bribery than in Europe. Much more more crime and lawlessness than in Europe. Certainly doesn't seem puritanical to me. If you are seriously interested in the U.S. founding, I'd recommend reading Albion's Seed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albion's_Seed Yes, there were puritans in New England. But also tobacco farmers in Virginia, Cavaliers, and Scotch-Irish and border English in the South, and the Spanish…
on “Divorce does funny things” ↗If you are interested in the role of "honor" in American culture, and up for lengthy academic treatise filled with incredible tidbits of knowledge, David Hackett Fischer's book "Albion's Seed" is delightful. For example, here's an excerpt that stuck with me regarding President Andrew Jackson's approach to marriage: The border custom of bridal abduction was introduced to the American backcountry.…
on “The world's most toxic value system (2001)” ↗…the Wall Part 2 [0] and the story of how authoritarian British schools were. I guess there some sort of contingent for making lots of rules and demanding adherence. There’s a pretty great book called Albion’s Seed [1] by Fischer that goes into the four groups of British people that founded America. The “border” peoples of Scotland/north England were pretty anarchistic and moved to the colonies fleeing British rule.…
on “Irish police to be given powers over passwords” ↗For some deep history on this particular cultural expression, I highly recommend reading Albion's Seed. This cultural folkway of extreme supervision traces its roots all the way back to the Puritans' child-rearing folkway: "breaking the will." It's no coincidence that the most egregious of these family…
on “Making It Legal to Play Outside: “Reasonable Childhood Independence” Bills” ↗…beyond delighted to read this -- to know that there are other fans of Pinker, Fischer, and Nisbett out there! Have you read _Bound Away_ yet? (It's the companion volume Fischer promised at the end of _Albion's Seed_; it doesn't deal with slavery alone, but with Virginia in general.) Expressed this lucidly, I almost feel that the exception is those without a culture of honor, not those with one -- that the North…
on “Tantrums as Status Symbols (2005)” ↗Or lower-middle-class, or otherwise downwardly mobile, and looking to move up; or ideologically motivated. Read Albion's Seed -- the Borderers/Scotch-Irish were poor and exiled, following the model you describe, but the Cavaliers were both downwardly-mobile and eager to create ideological utopias, and the Puritans and Quakers…
on “How did an entire state price itself out for entry-level home buyers?” ↗…backwards ones, that they already know everything that's necessary in order to live well. (The Persians told Chardin as much in the 1500s, as mentioned in The Structures of Everyday Life.) Have you read Albion's Seed? If not (and it's about 600 pages of historical scholarship, so I won't blame you), look up Slate Star Codex's review, which makes the book's essential points in reduced (and maybe slightly caricatured)…
on “Peak Millennial? Cities Can’t Assume a Continued Boost from the Young” ↗…ethically "right" I can still see why it's such a common phenomenon, despite being a poor categorization. We should all be using cultures rather than race, ethnic group, OR country/geographic area. "Albion's Seed" or "American Nations" should be required reading for anyone obsessed with race to really understand the flaws of racial categorization: https://www.amazon.com/Albions-Seed-British-Folkways-cultura...…
The usual book on this subject is Albion's Seed. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0195069056/
Albion's Seed by David Hackett Fischer. As an American, it was the most enjoyable and interesting history book I ever read, was even laughing out loud at one point. Talks about the four major English cultures that…
on “Ask HN: Best books read in 2022” ↗Border reivers were both English and Scottish, and not always particularly concerned about whether their targets were ‘ours’ or ‘theirs’. Sowell probably drew from Albion's Seed by David Hackett Fischer, which argues that US culture arose from four different British subcultures.
on “Who's Behind the Swat USA Reshipping Service?” ↗…minority They were never a majority in California. Take a look at census data as well as reading basic California history. The largest ethnic groups in California have always been Hispanics and Germans. Albion's Seed is a good book, but Fischer's analysis was limited to Appalachia, New England, the Delaware Valley, and Virginia. He did mean for it try to be a generalized explanation for the entire US. Furthermore,…
on “California is torn between clashing Anglo traditions?” ↗…America, it's far from the only contribution, and looking at everything through the Yankee looking glass misses a great deal. I think the two most valuable US history books I've read in the past decade are Albion's Seed and American Nations. Everything makes a great deal more sense when broken out of the monolithic "American" or bipolar North vs South narrative.
on “How America Became “A City Upon a Hill”: The Rise and Fall of Perry Miller” ↗