New Book: How the States Got Their Shapes

David S Poepoe · Jul 13, 2008

Just picked up today a nice little resource for all those wanting to redraw the 50 states of the Union. Mark Stein's How the States Got Their Shapes explains the politics and decisions that went into drafting and drawing the borders of states. All states and the District of Columbia are covered in short easy to read chapters loaded with simple maps. Altho he does not cover the likes of the state of Franklin nor Jefferson's plan for the 15 new states to be carved out of the Northwest Territory, there is plenty of ATL ideas.

Here is the Amazon link:

http://www.amazon.com/How-States-Go...bs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215928637&sr=1-1

Umbric Man · Jul 13, 2008

THIS I've got to buy.

bernooch · Jul 13, 2008

Thanks for posting info about this book.

Just read the pdf excerpt on amazon.com. Its a little chapter about the evolution of the borders of Maryland. Knew some of the information..but was very enlightening.

This IS a book to snag.

Thanks again for the post

Codae · Jul 13, 2008

My excerpt was about Alabama.

Is Amazon supposed to work like that?

Amerigo Vespucci · Jul 14, 2008

Codae said:
My excerpt was about Alabama.

Is Amazon supposed to work like that?

Mine was as well ... wonder if it randomly plugs something.

Tom Veil · Jul 14, 2008

thanks!

Thande · Jul 14, 2008

Quite interesting. Bill Bryson had a fair amount to say about the shapes of U.S. states in his Made in America, so a broader look would doubtless be good.

Caledor · Jul 14, 2008

Amerigo Vespucci said:
Mine was as well ... wonder if it randomly plugs something.

I could see Alabama and Maryland, but on different places on the page.

Qazaq2007 · Jul 15, 2008

Definately an interesting book. I went to the site and read the excerpt, which was on Alabama, quite interesting. May need to snag me a copy as soon as I can get a little desposable income to be able to buy it.

Matt · Jul 15, 2008

Checked out a copy from work, I'll look through it some more as I read through but my first thought is how poorly organized it is.

David S Poepoe · Jul 15, 2008

Matt said:
Checked out a copy from work, I'll look through it some more as I read through but my first thought is how poorly organized it is.

The states are arranged in alphabetical over. How else should it be organized?? There are 51+ short easy to read chapters.

Matt · Jul 15, 2008

David S Poepoe said:
The states are arranged in alphabetical over. How else should it be organized?? There are 51+ short easy to read chapters.

Well it flows poorly because of constant reference to chapters out of sequence. It would have been easier to sort it geographically.