How the States Got Their Shapes (Hardcover)

from tuckerresearch

Not a bad book, but after awhile it gets tedious. The states are presented in alphabetical order, and one state's northern border is another state's southern border, so to hear the same rigmarole again and again gets a bit grating. Read in small snippets, one or two at a time, it's not so bad, an...

from burnit99

A sometimes tedious, sometimes fascinating reference of how each of the 50 states ended up with their geographical shapes. The tedium is from my own shortcomings; I enjoy history when it's interesting. Some of this is pretty dry. Not the author's fault; he does a very good job of telling each sta...

from debherter

Much more fascinating than it sounds, this book will draw you into topics you never knew existed. For instance, if the plan was to make all of the states the same size, then why aren't they? Some sections get to be a little repetitive, but I think that's inevitable. The author does try to find un...

from 5hrdrive

What a wonderful little book! Clearly and consistently explains how the individual states arrived at their current shapes, with all the interesting little twists and turns along the way. If you've ever looked at a map of the United States and wondered, "Why does Wyoming take a bite out of Utah?" ...

from ThothJ

In conjunction with Lost States: True Stories of Texlahoma, Transylvania, and Other States That Never Made It, I also heartily recommend How the States Got Their Shapes by Mark Stein. It details the crazy journeys our wonderful 50 states took in order to end-up in the shapes that we know and love...