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Mark Stein

How the States Got Their Shapes Hardcover – Unabridged, May 27, 2008

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New York Times Bestseller

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

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 ingrained that our map might as well be a giant jigsaw puzzle designed by Divine Providence. 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.

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.

Book 1 of 2

How the States Got Their Shapes
Print length

352 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Smithsonian
Publication date

May 27, 2008
Dimensions

6 x 1.13 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

0061431389
ISBN-13

978-0061431388
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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.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

“Give me the splendid irregularities any day. God bless the panhandles and notches, the West Virginias and Oklahomas.” — Wall Street 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

“If you ever wondered why Delaware owns a small portion of the southwest New Jersey coast, the answer is here!” — Library Journal

“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

“In this highly informative and engaging book, Mark Stein shows that the perimeters of the fifty states - familiar icons on license plates, tourist brochures, and government letterheads - are not just meaningless shapes. Stein’s carefully researched trove of regional histories embedded in our national map will delight history buffs, map enthusiasts, and anyone intrigued with political landscapes and American geography.” — MARK MONMONIER, author of How to Lie with Maps

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Smithsonian (May 27, 2008)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0061431389
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0061431388
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.1 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.13 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,410,026 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #145 in Province & Local Canadian History
- #587 in Historical Geography
- #26,662 in U.S. State & Local History

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4.2 932 ratings

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About the author

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Mark Stein

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Mark Stein is the author of How the States Got Their Shapes, a New York Times Bestseller that became the basis of the History Channel series of the same name, and its companion book, How the States Got Their Shapes Too: The People Behind the Borderlines, which answers the question: Since no child ever said, "When I grow up, I want to create a state line," how did the people who did so end up doing so?

He also wrote American Panic: A History of Who Scares Us and Why, which traces rhetorical devices that have recurred in political panics from the Salem Witch Hunt to the present, and reveals why some people are more susceptible to such rhetoric than others -- regardless of educational level or where they reside on the political spectrum.

His most recent book,Vice Capades: Sex, Drugs, and Bowling from the Pilgrims to the Present, explores the kinship between punishable vice and political power -- as in the case of bowling, which was illegal in all of this country's thirteen colonies...except New York. That colony had a large Dutch population; the Dutch had brought bowling to the New World; they prospered and became wealthy in what became, under the British, New York. And wealth is powerful. And the Dutch liked to bowl. Indeed, the oldest park in New York is Bowling Green.

In film, Stein wrote the screenplay for Housesitter, which starred Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn. His plays have been produced off-Broadway at the Manhattan Theatre Club, and at such regional theatres as South Coast Repertory, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Manitoba Theatre Centre, L.A.'s Fountain Theatre, the Rubicon Theatre in Ventura, CA, and an award-winning production of his play, Direct from Death Row the Scottsboro Boys at Chicago's Raven Theater.

Stein lives in Washington, D.C., where he has taught at Catholic University and American University. More about Mark Stein or contact at http://www.marksteinauthor.com/

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Lisa Wilkins

perfect gift

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 23, 2023

Verified Purchase

perfect gift for my elderly father

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Deborah L

Beware, fans of the television series :(

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 30, 2022

Verified Purchase

I truly enjoyed the tv series but never did see them all so decided to buy the book. Oh my, what a mistake. It is littered with cross-references and I doubt many readers have that sort of patience? Can't imagine how you could read it on an e-reader??? (Another reason I prefer paper books). I am sure the author felt justified but as a casual reader I just gave it up as a bad job and left it at the library for the next book sale. How sad that the author could not just tell a coherent story in one go. Oh well, something for everyone, right?

Helpful

Kevin Conaway

Interesting but not entertaining, and poorly organized

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 16, 2011

Verified Purchase

I bought this book after seeing parts of a few episodes of the show on the History Channel that was based on the book. The show was very informative and entertaining at the same time, making me want to learn more about the subject.

I haven't finished the book yet, but I am far enough into it to give it an honest review (and besides, I'm pretty sure there isn't a surprise ending waiting for me in Wyoming).

The book is informative, but it's not a very entertaining read. Most of the material is pretty dry, actually. As I'm reading it, I kind of feel as though I'm reading a less detailed text book for an 8th grade American History class. Often, also, it seems as though the maps tend to lack sufficient detail to really clarify what the author is writing about in some instances.

The biggest annoyance with this book, however, is its organization. At first, it seems like a logical idea to have each chapter be a state in alphabetical order. However, once you get through the first couple of pages, its apparent that the logic is flawed. Since states share borders with one another and massive territories resulted in multiple states, many states share histories and details about their borderlines. Unfortunately what this means for this book is that in every chapter there are several references to maps and explanations in several different chapters. For example, in the first chapter [Alabama], the book refers the reader to explanations and maps located in the later chapters of Mississippi, North Carolina, and Florida. Since the histories of these states are so intertwined, wouldn't it make more sense to cover their histories together as one chapter or at least in sequential chapters instead of them being covered in chapters 1, 10, 25, and 34? Technically, the book's first chapter is a section called "Don't Skip This - You'll Just Have To Come Back To It Later," a chapter that briefly explains the significance of events such as the French and Indian War, Louisiana Purchase, slavery issues, etc. Sure as the chapter's title suggests, the reader does have to come back to that section several times as it is countlessly referenced throughout the rest of the book (for instance, in any chapter that deals with a state that came out of the Louisiana Purchase). Once again, instead of giving a minutely detailed explanation about the Louisiana Purchase and then asking the reader to refer back to that chapter several times later in the book, would it not make much more sense to simply cover the Purchase and all of its resulting states in one chapter?

I don't want to flat out say that the book is bad because there is some interesting information in it. However, it really could've been written to be a little more of an entertaining read, and it certainly should've been organized better. All in all, if you're thinking about buying this book, you'll probably get a more enjoyable experience from just watching the History Channel's adaptation.

25 people found this helpful

Helpful

Harry

Excellent reference book with limitations

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 10, 2017

Verified Purchase

This is an excellent reference source. It strength is also its weakness, because each state's story must stand on its own there is a great deal of overlapping, repetitious information between it and the states that border it. Short of making the story one long narrative of the nation as a whole it would be hard to avoid this rehashing. It would also leave you having to dig to find the story of your state among all the others.

On the other hand, I found the reuse of trite phrase throughout the book tedious after a while. The test of a good writer is to make old stories interesting and fresh. Mark Stein might have done a better job there.

As usual with Kindle the illustrations are limited to viewing page size so enlarging can be a problem (because of the nature of the maps less so in this book that others I've read) and the illustrations were not linked to references in the text. If the text mentioned Fig. 13 you had to flip forward to find figure 13 - and then flip back to pick up where you were. Sigh!

One last point I liked is that if I want to learn more about, say, Colorado's eastern border you can go to the Table of Contents and select Kansas. Quick and easy!

24 people found this helpful

Helpful

David Connell

Tells about the states, shapes and history

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 14, 2023

Verified Purchase

The title says it all and the book backs it up. Good history on where the shapes came from. If that's what you're interested in this is your book.

Helpful

Westley

Why is Idaho shaped like a throne? Why is Rhode Island so tiny?

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 26, 2013

Verified Purchase

"How the States Got Their Shapes" relates various reasons for state boundaries. The book is chock full of maps illustrating boundaries and how some changed over time. Each state has a separate entry, which makes it nice if the reader is interested in a certain state. On the other hand, it's a bit artificial, as any given boundary is shared by two or more states. The book thus ends up being repetitious if you read it from beginning to end, as I did.

I'm an amateur geography fan, so I enjoyed this book quite a bit. It's written for all audiences, and the author avoids using too much jargon. Instead, it focuses more on the historical reasons that states came to be certain shapes. I learned quite a few fascinating tidbits, although as other reviewers have pointed out, the entries are fairly surface level. A list of sources for each state, though, provides the reader with possible follow-up materials to read.

Note: This review is for the Kindle version, which I would rate just 2 stars. One of the beautiful things about using a Kindle is that a book can include links, which would have greatly benefited this book. So when the author discusses the boundaries for West Virginia, he notes "See Virginia," but he doesn't include a link! Navigating to Virginia from another entry is awkward. This book ABSOLUTELY needs links in the Kindle version.

7 people found this helpful

Helpful

Kevin Bullard

Super fun. Read if you have any intellectual drive in your life!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 1, 2023

Verified Purchase

Well written book. Would recommend it to anybody who loves trivia and things like that

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

StetsonHat

Very informative

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on August 20, 2010

Verified Purchase

This wonderful little book helps explain why the states have the shape they do. It is written in a pleasant style without loosing the reader's interest. The book starts with an introduction and explains in general why the map of the US looks the way it does today and why there are several states with an equal "height" (in degrees latitude) and "width" (in longtitude). The writer explains the grander design of the US Congress in creating states that were roughly equal in size. After this section each state is presented in a separate section with a short introduction and then each border (ie North, East, South, West) is described in detail.

The writer does tend to repeat information a lot like when describing the northern border of a particular state and repeating much of the same when describing the southern border of the state to the north but other than that I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in geography or the history of the USA.

Guy L. Storms

What's in a name - or a shape?

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on May 15, 2017

Verified Purchase

Great stuff for those who are interested in such esoteric information.

Lewisham Guy

Interesting book, too bad about the light print

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 16, 2022

Verified Purchase

This seems to be one of the very few books that explain why the American states are shaped they way they are. Each state is explained at a time, in some cases too briefly, and there is inevitably much repetition, but the book is quite interesting. The problem is the feint print. Not the author's fault but the text is hard to read which makes for tiring reading, especially since the print is also small. The chapter titles and the titles of sections within the chapters are not much better. Do publishers do this to save on the cost of ink? Definitely not a good trend.

Belinda

Great read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 25, 2019

Verified Purchase

Excellent book, very interesting. Explained the structure of American State boundaries.

Rob B

A page turner

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 16, 2015

Verified Purchase

I thought it would be a book that I dipped in and out of, but it turned into a page-turner that I read from cover to cover :-)

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