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| How the States Got Their Shapes | 
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (based on 27 reviews)
Sales Rank: 384
Category: Book
Author: Mark Stein
Publisher: Collins
Studio: Collins
Manufacturer: Collins
Label: Collins
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 5.8 x 1.3
ISBN: 0061431389
Dewey Decimal Number: 917.3
EAN: 9780061431388
ASIN: 0061431389
Publication Date: June 1, 2008
Release Date: May 27, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Why does Oklahoma have that panhandle? Did someone make a mistake? We are so familiar with the map of the United States that our state borders seem as much a part of nature as mountains and rivers. Even the oddities?the entire state of Maryland(!)?have become so engrained that our map might as well be a giant jigsaw puzzle designed by Divine Providence. But that's where the real mystery begins. Every edge of the familiar wooden jigsaw pieces of our childhood represents a revealing moment of history and of, well, humans drawing lines in the sand. How the States Got Their Shapes is the first book to tackle why our state lines are where they are. Here are the stories behind the stories, right down to the tiny northward jog at the eastern end of Tennessee and the teeny-tiny (and little known) parts of Delaware that are not attached to Delaware but to New Jersey. How the States Got Their Shapes examines: - Why West Virginia has a finger creeping up the side of Pennsylvania
- Why Michigan has an upper peninsula that isn't attached to Michigan
- Why some Hawaiian islands are not Hawaii
- Why Texas and California are so outsized, especially when so many Midwestern states are nearly identical in size
Packed with fun oddities and trivia, this entertaining guide also reveals the major fault lines of American history, from ideological intrigues and religious intolerance to major territorial acquisitions. Adding the fresh lens of local geographic disputes, military skirmishes, and land grabs, Mark Stein shows how the seemingly haphazard puzzle pieces of our nation fit together perfectly.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 22 more reviews...
Interesting perspective on the geographic layout of America September 7, 2008
Fascinating how even the earliest states had a bearing on the borders of those in the middle and western portions of the US.
Borders all over the map September 1, 2008
I live in the panhandle of Connecticut and have always been fascinated about the vast irregularity of the borders of most of the United States. Author Mark Stein's informative new book, "How the States Got Their Shapes" is a quick report as to how each state's boundaries came into play...and there are dozens of different reasons why.
Two things stand out in Stein's book...the shaping of many of the eastern states (due to charters by England's Charles I and II) and the western ones by Congress (in an attempt to make states of equal a size as possible). In between these two devices all chaos ensues. It's one thing to have a river act as a natural boundary but if one looks at a map of the United States, rivers come and go supplanted by straight lines which don't always follow parallels or meridians. There are stories of bad surveying, compromises about gold mines and Indians, lines made anew to give certain states more access to lakes and to keep certain cities within some borders, interstate negotiations and the inevitable wars that helped to redraw the boundaries.
Stein's book would have been better organized by region than by state capitalization (there are continuous references to flip back or forward when better arrangements could have been made) and there are dates that are simply wrong or misleading... (Texas became a state in 1845, not 1846 and the Hoover Dam is listed as being created in 1935 AND 1936). But with the introduction of each state, Stein asks the reader to ponder questions about why that particular entity looks the way it does and that is, in itself, a nice historical challenge.
"How the States Got Their Shapes" is a good, if not a great or deep attempt to answer these questions but it does provide many facts we never learned in school. I recommend it for that reason.
 Disappointing August 29, 2008
This book is somewhat interesting, but overall it is very disappointing. Light on substance, heavy on repetition, and full of errors.
It quickly glosses over major historical events to race through each state's borders. The choice of dealing with the states alphabetically is odd and leads to reiteration of the same facts over and over without deeper explanation. The French and Indian War is mentioned 16 times, but the causes of it are never described.
Errors are frequent. In "Arizona," Stein writes about a buffer "...around the town of Yuma, California..." Yuma is in Arizona. He states that Texas joined the United States in 1846. It became a state in 1845. He never describes New Hampshire's northern border, stating that the western border of that state is the Connecticut River but completely ignoring the fact that the northern border departs from the river on its way to Maine.
The book seems amateurish and incomplete. I realize the author is a playwright, but that is not an excuse. It left me wanting more.
How The States Got Their Shapes August 29, 2008
Very interesting information presented in an easy to read format. Pick it up and put it down, read selectively, it's all fun and fascinating.
 Thanks Mark Stein! August 23, 2008
It has always been a mystery to me how states wound up with the boundaries that they currently have. Of particular interest was my home state of Arkansas with the notch at the top and bottom corner along with the bent line on its western border with Arkansas. This book finally laid my questions to rest.
Rather than reading the book from front to back, I skipped around to the states I have lived in the past. My current home of Texas made riveting reading as I learned of the wars and disputes that defined the boundary. Particularly, why Oklahoma has a "panhandle".
The history and associated conflicts - especially those of the slave states - makes for a fantastic read. As an example, I enjoyed the way California basically told the federal government what they would and would not do. How things have changed!
The subject may sound a bit mundane to some but I can assure the potential reader that it is very interesting and provides well-researched facts that you will carry with you on your next road trip. Thanks Mark Stein. Michael L. Gooch, SPHR Author of Wingtips with Spurs
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