Binding: Hardcover Dewey Decimal Number: 917.3 EAN: 9780061431388 ISBN: 0061431389 Label: Collins Manufacturer: Collins Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 352 Publication Date: June 01, 2008 Publisher: Collins Release Date: May 27, 2008 Sales Rank: 468 Studio: Collins
Editorial Review:
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.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Fascinating topic, poorly executed
Being a history and geography buff, I was pretty excited to pick up a copy. But I was quickly disappointed: the book was poorly organized and ended up being fairly repetitive.
The book does have some pros, namely that it covers pretty much everything and has a corresponding map for every state and every peculiar state line.
But there are more cons. The book is organized alphabetically, which means that information you read about in the chapter on Alabama is repeated later ... Read More
Rating: - a fun read
This has been a fun book to read.
It an easy read and fun to have on the coffee table for people to leaf through,find a state of choice,and gain a few facts that they did't know before.
Rating: - Great idea that falls apart in execution
Giving this a generous third star because I'm a geography nerd, but it was kind of disappointing. Three reasons:
1) I understand listing the states alphabetically (I chose not to read them that way) as a reference work, but this isn't really being sold/marketed as a reference work, but more of a popular geography. Another reviewer thought it should've been done by region, and I agree.
2) If you're going to do it alphabetically, you need to include all the info for each state. ... Read More
Rating: - How the States Got Their Shapes
This is a very interesting book if you are interested in American or Local history. There are good stories behind why states have such different borders. Good for school children, goes beyond what they learn in public school.
Rating: - A Short History of Every Boundary in the U.S.
This work has the rare ability to pull you in to the minutiae of boundary agreements, disagreements, and just plain mistakes that characterize the present lines of all 50 states. I did not know that the little jog Virginia takes at the Tennessee border was the result of a mistake by a surveyor, or that Wisconsin and Michigan, to this day, dispute the ownership of a wedge of land tucked away in the north woods of each state. Or that Illinois has a border 60 miles north of Chicago to accomodate canals that ... Read More
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- Fascinating topic, poorly executed
- a fun read