How the States Got Their Shapes

By: Mark Stein

Narrated by: Brian Holsopple

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.

©2008 Mark Stein (P)2011 Christy Mirabal

Informative

It’s not very entertaining. But it’s chuck full of everything on why the boundary lines are where they are currently and where they were along the way! I would have only grasped it better with maps showing the changes and lay of the land at times.

Doesn't lend it self to audio

What disappointed you about How the States Got Their Shapes?

Good book just didn't really work as an audiobook. Recommend the kindle or print versions though.

great info, but...

this book should be a bathroom book. it's too disconnected to enjoy through. narrator is good.

Boring, but informative

So many phrases and terms are repeated throughout this "book" that it all blends together at some point. There also many points at which they gloss over tragedies and black eyes of American history, like referring to the US government's complicity in assassinating several Native American chief to get their land in Arkansas as "bad events," and similar unfortunate turns of phrase.

Hard to absorb without a map in front of you

We tried listening to this book while on a long drive. Our geographic knowledge of each states' borders is not detailed, so it was difficult to understand many of the stories without a map in front of you to make constant reference. While interesting subject matter, we intend to take up this book again when we can look at maps as the narrative is delivered.