How the States Got Their Shapes (Hardcover)

by Mark Stein (Author)
Key Phrases: compromise line, line due west, line due north, New York, United States, North Carolina (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
America's first century was defined by expansion and the negotiation of territories among areas colonized by the French and Spanish, or occupied by natives. The exact location of borders became paramount; playwright and screenwriter Stein amasses the story of each state's border, channeling them into a cohesive whole. Proceeding through the states alphabetically, Stein takes the innovative step of addressing each border-north, south, east, west-separately. Border stories shine a spotlight on many aspects of American history: the 49th parallel was chosen for the northern borders of Minnesota, North Dakota, and Montana because they ensured England's access to the Great Lakes, vital to their fur trade; in 1846, Washington D.C. residents south of the Potomac successfully petitioned to rejoin Virginia (called both "retrocession" and "a crime") in order to keep out free African-Americans. Aside from tales of violent conquest and political glad-handing, there's early, breathtaking tales of American politicos' favorite sport, gerrymandering (in 1864, Idaho judge Sidney Edgerton single-handedly "derailed" Idaho's proposed boundary, to Montana's benefit, with $2,000 in gold). American history enthusiasts should be captivated by this fun, informative text.
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Review
"A fascinating and wonderfully entertaining account of an often-overlooked oddity of America's history: how the jigsaw-puzzle layout of the United States emerged. I never thought a book on geography could be funny, but Mark Stein has pulled it off." (Vogue )

"If you ever wondered why Delaware owns a small portion of the southwest New Jersey coast, the answer is here!" (Library Journal )

"For anyone who's been confounded by the largest of all jigsaw puzzles, the one that carved out those fifty weirdly formed states, here is the solution. It's history, it's geography, it's comedy, it's indispensable." (ANDRO LINKLATER, author of The Fabric of America: How Our Borders and Boundaries Shaped the Country and Forged Our National Identity )

"Give me the splendid irregularities any day. God bless the panhandles and notches, the West Virginias and Oklahomas." (Wall Street Journal )

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Smithsonian (May 27, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061431389
• ISBN-13: 978-0061431388
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #49,681 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

62 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It was not a drunken cartographer after all., June 7, 2008

By	CenVillager "cenvillager" (Pembroke Pines, FL USA) - See all my reviews

I won't try to compete with the detailed review above. I just want to add that I have been wondering about the odd shapes of the states for years, and wishing for info on this topic.

I was thrilled to see that this book was finally available.

The book has surpassed my expectations. The details are fabulous. The ample maps fully illustrate the narrative.

Each state is explained. For example, why does Rhode Island have "island" in it's name? Buy the book and find out.

When I lived in Mobile, I puzzled for years over Alabama's "tab" at the south. My guess was that it had something to do with giving the state a gulf shoreline. (Maybe for condos?) I was wrong. It's all Florida's fault.

In short, this book is fascinating! Even if you think you're not interested, you will be. The arcane knowledge you learn will make you the star of any party, or a total bore.

I love it!

146 of 172 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Hold on a Minute, June 16, 2008

By	The Realist (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

I agree the book has some interesting ideas in it, just not done very well. I could not even identify a thesis.

First, the book has no footnotes, no in text quotations from primary sources, and explanations are very, very brief. Each state gets about a page of typed material. The maps are small and lack the few details that are referenced in the text. For example, if the coal fields of north west Georgia explain the western border of Georgia, show us a map of the coal fields. If the Appalachain Mountains influenced Alabama, Georigia, and the Carolins, show us a map of the Appalachian Mountains. An elementary principle of writing books about maps: if you refer to something in the text as geographically significant, you better put a map in showing why. Maps are pictures, and writing about maps means using pictures as well as words.

Second, the book is poorly structured. While it may make sense to organize the states from A to W with each state given individual treatment, a reader can't easily grasp themes and concepts that guide one state's development with another. An example: Mississippi and Alabama and Florida. All these states's histories are bound up with each other, but to get the picture you have to flip through the book and maybe you can get an idea of what happened. A more logical structure would be to create sections (the Colonies, The Nortwest Territories, The Plains, The South, The West, The Pacific Coast with Alaska and Hawai'i) and then the reader can easily understand the forces at work. The states didn't develop in alphabetical order; why does this book?

Third: The book makes use of many implicit assumptions about why borders "should be" one way yet are not explained. While mentioned, it is never fully explained why Congress used equality as the basis for creating states. Equality of territory, population, access, ??? Since this idea makes up a substantial portion of the book, it needs to be developed fully with references, quotations from statutes, floor debates, etc.; more than a bibilography at the end. And the frequent assumption that it's "normal" to use rivers for borders or straight lines is not supported at all. Are these assumptions warranted?

The idea of the book is interesting, yet the execution leaves much to be desired. It has so much potential to show how economics, culture, and movement interact with geography to define political spaces. It is so lacking in support and important detail as to make it worthless for serious use.

I gave it two stars and not one because the author is, after all, a playwright and not a serious historian, and so I forgive the "History Channel" syle treatment of the material. The editors and publishers are to blame for the book's inadequacies. They should know what a history book is supposed to look like!

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a timely text for tennesseans, July 17, 2008

By	David W. Straight (knoxville, tennessee United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Georgia has been undergoing a severe drought for several years now, particularly in the Atlanta area: as with Las Vegas, they are running out of water for lawns, fountains, golf courses, etc. So the governor had a well-publicized and very public prayer for rain. This review is not the place to discuss the religious and political implications of why God did not answer the governor's prayers, but it is very relevant about what happened next. The Bible and the 10 Commandments has imprecations about coveting: the State of Georgia turned its covetous eyes on the Tennessee River near Chattanooga. The northern border of Georgia falls about a mile too far south to actually reach the river, and so Georgia has decided to contest its northern border with Tennessee, and to shift the border just far enough so that it can sink its fangs (so to speak) into the river. And you had thought that border disputes between the states was all finished 100-200 years ago!

How the Staes Got Their Shapes describes how the state borders came to be. Much of this is interesting, but some is not quite as exciting. There are states that are nicely squared off--no interesting little wiggles in the borders. The residents of, say, Colorado and Wyoming will probably find more to enjoy in the descriptions of those states than the rest of us. Everything is organized by state, but of course most borders affect other states as well--so there's a great deal of cross-referencing, accompanied by an increasingly tiresome breathless "DON'T SKIP THIS" in full caps. You will get the impression that accidents happen frequently, and that many borders make no sense whatsoever, other than as lasting memorials to the inability of some surveyors to read their instruments carefully.

So it's an interesting book. I also expect that as resources get scarcer (such as the water in the Tennessee River) we may see more attempts by states to challenge borders. As the book notes, in 1998 the Supreme Court ruled in New Jersey's favor about the boundaries of Ellis Island: New York was the loser. You'll see some strange-looking maps, such as the one with the State of Connecticut extending west in a narrow strip to the Pacific Ocean. Maybe Connecticut can dust off a few old rulings and grow a bit! So overall, this is a book that while perhaps a bit dull in some places is a lot of fun in many others.