| |  | Author: Mark Stein
Publisher: Collins
Category: Book
List Price: $14.99
Buy New: $10.19
You Save: $4.80 (32%)
Rating:  42 reviews
Sales Rank: 141872
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 272
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.3 x 0.8
ISBN: 0061431397
Dewey Decimal Number: 973
EAN: 9780061431395
ASIN: 0061431397
Publication Date: May 1, 2009 (In 112 Days)
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Not yet published
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| Customer Reviews:
 Great use of maps but poor organization December 14, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Stein explains the border origins for each of the fifty United States of America. The book contains 179 maps that each overlay current and previous state borders and supplement the main text. Each chapter explores one state and opens with a few questions about that particular state border's eccentricities. The highlight is the ten-page introductory chapter that explains several multi-state borders resulting from territorial acquisition or Congressional edict. This section is labeled "Don't Skip This!" and often referenced throughout the rest of the book. I was surprised to learn how many state borders are whole number degrees of latitude and longitude and the equality of height and/or width among many western states.
As other reviewers have noted, the unfortunate alphabetical organization of the material results in frequent repetition and "See State X" cross-referencing. Grouping the states by region or admission into the Union might have yielded a better overall flow. I started with my home state of Pennsylvania and a half-dozen others, but eventually lost interest and did not finishing reading this book before it was due back at the library.
fascinating tidbits, very comprehensive December 9, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Why is the Upper Penisula part of Michigan? Why does Missouri have that little notch in its southeast that extends into Arkansas? How about that little notch in southwest Connecticut? What's the deal with that long, skinny panhandle at the top of West Virginia? How come Staten Island isn't part of New Jersey? How did Maryland get so skinny?
Whatever your question, and whatever your state, this book is sure to fill you in. Whether politics, geography, war, or simply human error, there seems to be an answer behind every little jot and tittle.
Did you know, for example, that Ohio's northwest border was tilted up to include Toledo? And that caused a war (the Toledo War) between Ohio and Michigan? And that Michigan was given the UP to compensate it for the loss?
The book makes particularly good example of maps. That's a good thing, as some of the reasons behind the borders get quite complicated. The author does a very admirable job of leading the reader through these explanations, however - especially in such a short space.
I do agree with other reviewers that the state-by-state organization was not ideal. This organization seems to be particularly unfortunate as the writer does have a fiction background and would seemingly have been able to tell a much better story if he had organized things chronologically.
Nonetheless, the nuggets and gems contained within are absolutely fascinating. In fact, I'm not sure where else the dedicated geography buff could find all these in one place. A couple of reviewers recommended The Shape of the Nation-Why the States are Shaped Like That, but that book is out of print and much shorter than this one (128 vs. 352 pp.). I haven't had a chance to read it, but I'm not sure it would fit the bill as well as this one.
Fascinating topic, poorly executed November 26, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Being a history and geography buff, I was pretty excited to pick up a copy. But I was quickly disappointed: the book was poorly organized and ended up being fairly repetitive.
The book does have some pros, namely that it covers pretty much everything and has a corresponding map for every state and every peculiar state line.
But there are more cons. The book is organized alphabetically, which means that information you read about in the chapter on Alabama is repeated later on when you read the chapter on Mississippi. The states should have been organized in the order in which they were formed. And the issue of repeated information is a problem in itself because sometimes information is repeated and other times you are referred to a different chapter.
While this book may not be an academic work, it does seem to lack serious historical analysis. It seems fairly amateur. Nevertheless, it's a quick read and, if you're interested enough, not so painful that you can't finish the book.
 a fun read November 9, 2008
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
This has been a fun book to read.
It an easy read and fun to have on the coffee table for people to leaf through,find a state of choice,and gain a few facts that they did't know before.
Great idea that falls apart in execution October 30, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Giving this a generous third star because I'm a geography nerd, but it was kind of disappointing. Three reasons:
1) I understand listing the states alphabetically (I chose not to read them that way) as a reference work, but this isn't really being sold/marketed as a reference work, but more of a popular geography. Another reviewer thought it should've been done by region, and I agree.
2) If you're going to do it alphabetically, you need to include all the info for each state. Sure, there's the repetition issue, but there's already a fair amount of repetition anyway (not sure why he went through the trouble of the 'Do Not Skip This' intro section if he was going to tell us over and over and over the same info) -- why not go all the way? Examples: in Georgia, we learn about the Orphan Strip, which was contested by North Carolina and Georgia (and South Carolina made a play for it too) ... so why is the only mention in the Georgia section? If you're not going to include the full discussion, at least reference it. Other idiosyncracies: we learn that the 'boot heel' of Missouri which dips below the 36'30" line designated by Congress was through the actions of someone who stood to gain from it being in Missouri rather than Arkansas, but it's only in the Arkansas section that we learn that the border for the heel was set at the 36' line. Also: in the intro to West Virginia, it's asked why parts of West Virginia aren't in Maryland, but then in the section itself there's not a single mention of Maryland. I think an attempt to spend more time with each state would have eliminated these idiosyncracies, and would have resulted in a deeper understanding of each border decision.
3) I have some concerns about historical accuracy. Ignoring the lack of footnotes or extensive bibliography (which I am disappointed in), there's an assertion (repeated several times) that Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia gave up their western territory claims after the Constitution was signed with the future vision that more slave states could be made to balance the anti-slavery north states (which would grow in the Northwest Territories where slavery was forbidden). This struck me as extremely odd; first, because at that time states like New York and New Jersey still were slave states, and second because it was a good fifty years or so before abolitionism went mainstream (and thirty years before the Missouri Compromise). I did some checking, and I could not find info that corroborated this assertion (if you know of any, please put in the comments). Instead, the reasoning seemed to be a mix of reassuring other states of the original 13 without claims to western land that the new Union wouldn't be dominated by gigantic states such as a joined Virginia/Kentucky, or in exchange for the federal government assuming war debt or providing financial considerations. As someone who reads a lot of history, this forces me to consider that there may be other mistakes (besides the wrong map in Figure 126) and limits my faith in the veracity of the book.
Ultimately, it's a great idea with really faulty execution. I hope someone (and the original author is more than welcome to tackle it) is inspired by this book to write something a little better organized and that goes deeper in discussing the whys of the states' borders.
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