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That book deservedly sank into oblivion, since the observation is false.

There might have been Chinatowns, Italian neighborhoods and toxic neighborhoods in most major cities, but the critical part is that the overwhelming majority of all those ethnic or national groups were scattered throughout the population. Still are.

That is why the concept of "Americans" is possible. Otherwise we would all today be described by our tribal past. Silly season.
Without some strong easily perceived physical differences, most Americans are indistinguishable from one another; language, customs and attitude is what binds them together as a whole, greater than the sum of its parts.

It takes a conscious decision NOT to assimilate; Conversely, it takes not only a conscious decision but effort to assimilate. If one is treated as a helpless savage unable to care for oneself and treated as a pet, the dark side of human nature takes over.

If I can survive with no effort, and I am told that I am just as good and valuable as people who actually are, why should I seek change in myself?

We may speak the same language, but to a degree, you can get an instant idea of what the person’s background is the minute they open their mouth. The dialect they use, the inflection with their accent, the words they use, can all tell you where a person is.

A native Southerner, I admittedly am able to more quickly discern various Southern accents more than I am other. I can almost get an idea, immediately when someone when a Southern accent speaks, roughly where they are from, what class they were born in to, I can tell if there have been any influences from what their childhood base probably was. I can do this even as some of the old accents, particularly the old “Scarlet O’Hara” accent that almost every Southern upper class person seemed to have, have died away.

But even with more standardized accent patterns, one clear difference is class. The stereotypical Southern accent you hear in the current day movies is an accent that you usually find among rural poor whites in inland areas, with regional variations of course, but typically, that’s who has that accent. And there actually are cultural differences. If I say, start waving a rebel flag in Pennsylvania, I’m going to get a cool reception. If people came to my home, and saw that we have a giant battle flag in our bedroom, they might look negatively on us. Down here, they’d ask us why we only have one of them. But even then class differences and neighborhood difference prevail.

And we actually do not have the same customs. Down here, you are expected to address everyone as sir or ma’am, and if you don’t, there are problems. When I am outside of the region on business trips, and I say sir or ma’am, I’m asked why I just said this. In general, outside the region, telling your child to go into the yard and “pick your switch” is seen as an excessive form of punishment, down here, we actually see that as a light form of punishment. And I’d honestly say there are different attitudes down here. In general, our workers are greatful for the jobs that they have, elsewhere in the country, they always are agitating about something or other.

If you don’t believe there are fifferences even within individual states, important differences, google the term “Alabama Presidential primary” and add the phrase early voting, and see what our new presidential primary law is. A law that exists entirely because my county and our neighbor to the east have a cultural difference with the rest of the state, that necessitated that law. That accomadation had to be made entirely out of the same “cultural considerations” that you seem to dismiss.

Or to put in another way, in general, when I leave the region, if I want to find say, collard greens, seafood gumbo, black eye peas, etc, I’m usually going to have to go into a black neighborhood and find a soul food resturaunt. By the same token, if you come down here and ask someone for a hoagie, they are not going to know what in the hell you are talking about. You know, there is a reason they call Chicago style pizza, Chicago style pizza. Cause it’s a kind of food associated with well, Chicago. And actually, among midwestern accents, I can actually tell when someone is from Chicago and who is not, take that for what you will

American is a concept that the rest of the world developed, and I am going to disagree with you that the book is false. What we basically share is a national government, and a few broad national ideas. Once you start getting into the nitty gritty, our differences become clear.