How the States Got Their Shapes

How the States Got Their Shapes Features

Additional How the States Got Their Shapes Information

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:

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.

What Customers Say About How the States Got Their Shapes:

A fascinating book for any curious person. It is now with our 6th or 7th friend. I bought this book for my husband as a gift and he and I really enjoyed it. When we mentioned it to friends, they wanted to read it too.

Yes. A few of my friends and I took this on our road trip and it was an awesome travel companion. Also yes. Fun. Every time we crossed a state line, one of us took turns reading out tidbits about the state's formation. Nerdy.

And when you move westward across the map, about how Congress started to organize land. As mentioned in several other reviews, the book is arranged alphabetically. This book answers most questions anyone would probably have about how each state got its shape.It is interesting to read the stories about how east coast states were drawn by monarchs for whatever reasons they wanted. Panhandles, West Virginia's finger, Connecticut's notch, and so on. When most people look at a map of the United States, they take its current borders for granted.

This is a great subject for a book and would definitely be five stars if it were not for some errors.But if you can look beyond some mistakes, this book makes a great starting point to understanding how the borders of the United States were drawn. There are a couple of other mistakes like this.I can only hope the author will come back to this book, correct these errors, and add some more information for a second edition. Because of this and more, this book is a true wealth of information that is sure to interest anyone interested in maps, geography, and American history.However, the book is not without its flaws. For example, in the section explaining Nevada's post-statehood border adjustments, it states that one occurred in 1864, but other Internet sources say it occurred in 1866. This book also answers some questions like why is California and Texas so big. From my own research, some dates mentioned in the book are likely incorrect. After Congress gave up controlling slavery in favor of popular sovereignty, you will read about how equality of size or resources formed the shape of western states. Also, the same borders between states are explained in each state's section, so there is some repetition.There is also a couple of cases factual errors and omissions.

Most people can identify a state simply by its shape, but will rarely ask why it has said shape. That works fine as a reference, but for someone reading it cover-to-cover, it becomes disjointed. I would recommend this to anyone wanting to know the why of state borders. This book tells the stories about how Congress organized states in a futile attempt to control slavery in order to avert civil war and how those decisions are now permanently embedded in the borders of several states. Why do so many states states have little quirks in their borders.

Very interesting part of history I did not know. I found it very interesting to see how sttes were formed and who made the determinations.

It is a interesting look into the sometimes silly reasons the states are the way they are, Clearly the author did his research. The book covers how the states got their state lines. While interesting for states I had lived in I did pass over states I was not interested it.