How the States Got Their Shapes

The chapters are short and fun to read.

This is an excellent reference source. It strength is also its weakness, because each state's story must stand on its own there is a great deal of overlapping, repetitious information between it and the states that border it. Short of making the story one long narrative of the nation as a whole it would be hard to avoid this rehashing. It would also leave you having to dig to find the story of your state among all the others.On the other hand, I found the reuse of trite phrase throughout the book tedious after a while. The test of a good writer is to make old stories interesting and fresh. Mark Stein might have done a better job there.As usual with Kindle the illustrations are limited to viewing page size so enlarging can be a problem (because of the nature of the maps less so in this book that others I've read) and the illustrations were not linked to references in the text. If the text mentioned Fig. 13 you had to flip forward to find figure 13 - and then flip back to pick up where you were. Sigh!One last point I liked is that if I want to learn more about, say, Colorado's eastern border you can go to the Table of Contents and select Kansas. Quick and easy!

Well, I am american, but I loved this book ! I read it aloud to my husband and we had maps, and google and all sorts of stuff as "aids". The maps in the book are very very good, but we liked it so much we supplemented the maps with more maps !I had always looked at a map of the US and thought it was a straight line here, a squiggly river line there. Not so ! The book is logically laid out. The maps are excellent. We howled over the drunken surveyors (well, there were no roads and the terrain can get pretty tough..). We loved the true story of Ellis Island. A lot of mysteries over the formation of the original 13 colonies was solved.All the states (maybe with the exception of Wyoming) had border disputes when it came time to nail down exactly what real estate was going to make up a state. Yes, sometimes it got bloody, but by and large each state-to-be worked out its differences peacefully with their neighbors. I think that says a lot of good things about how the nascent USA citizens worked well with each other. Sure beats some of the wars and invasions that have gone on in Europe for centuries.Highly recommend this book. I haven't seen the history channel series based on this book. But this book should be a school textbook. It's that informative . Loved it.

I've noticed that some people found fault with Mark Stein's approach to the subject and how it should have been approached. Everyone seemingly has their own ideas right? Well, this was Mr. Stein's. My points are as follows:1. Scholarly? No. But readable enough. If a person wanted to, they could write a tome the size of Tolstoy's "War and Peace" to describe just One State.2. Interesting? Not totally. It was a struggle for me to get through it, as I was (from time to time) bored while trying to read the book.3. Informative? Yes. Their are those of us that are just curious enough to wonder how the States ended up looking as they do. This book will answer those questions - to a degree.4. Would I recommend it? Yes. For the right crowd, as Mr. Stein's Bibliography amply demonstrates, there are other sources out there to use - if you wish more in-depth information.My final point. If you can do a better job, then do so. See if ANYONE is (a) interested in buying your work and (b) actually interested enough to read it. Stein's book is just the right size for disseminating this type of information. Any longer, and I wouldn't have bought it (much less read it)!My score: Three stars!

I won't try to compete with the detailed review above. I just want to add that I have been wondering about the odd shapes of the states for years, and wishing for info on this topic.I was thrilled to see that this book was finally available.The book has surpassed my expectations. The details are fabulous. The ample maps fully illustrate the narrative.Each state is explained. For example, why does Rhode Island have "island" in it's name? Buy the book and find out.When I lived in Mobile, I puzzled for years over Alabama's "tab" at the south. My guess was that it had something to do with giving the state a gulf shoreline. (Maybe for condos?) I was wrong. It's all Florida's fault.In short, this book is fascinating! Even if you think you're not interested, you will be. The arcane knowledge you learn will make you the star of any party, or a total bore.I love it!

Mark Stein does a great job of ferreting out minutiae regarding how all our 50 states got their shape. I have been using this as part of a middle school geography study on the United States, and it never fails to get my students' attention. The book is organized in alphabetical fashion, and the only improvement I could suggest would be for the author to arrange the stories by region. In other words, it would make sense to talk about all the border issues in New England at one time. Then the story of Vermont vs. New York, for example, could be dealt with just one time, and in more detail, rather than having to be discussed in both states' articles. A minor criticism, because the book is well written, with just the right amount of trivia and humorous detail to make it an interesting read, either all in one session, or over time. Be sure to consider buying the associated DVD,  How the States Got Their Shapes , produced by the History Channel. Although it only covers a few of the states, it is worth viewing and will give you a ready reference to complement the book.

Excellent book, very interesting. Explained the structure of American State boundaries.

This wonderful little book helps explain why the states have the shape they do. It is written in a pleasant style without loosing the reader's interest. The book starts with an introduction and explains in general why the map of the US looks the way it does today and why there are several states with an equal "height" (in degrees latitude) and "width" (in longtitude). The writer explains the grander design of the US Congress in creating states that were roughly equal in size. After this section each state is presented in a separate section with a short introduction and then each border (ie North, East, South, West) is described in detail.The writer does tend to repeat information a lot like when describing the northern border of a particular state and repeating much of the same when describing the southern border of the state to the north but other than that I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in geography or the history of the USA.

Great stuff for those who are interested in such esoteric information.

I thought it would be a book that I dipped in and out of, but it turned into a page-turner that I read from cover to cover :-)

Very good.