how the states got their shapes

Rating:
Date: 2008-07-02
Just the facts
I was unimpressed with the book. The book is divided into sections for each state with very factual details of how each border was formed. As a result of its layout some of the sections are repetitive, with the same information often presented in two or more states. What is missing, however, is the human element of the story. There is no detail about skirmishes, no information on backroom fights or compromises, and no intereste side stories to give the book life. It is a true reference book, fitting in well between my world atlas and dictionary.

Rating:
Date: 2008-07-02
How The States Got Their Shapes
This a rather interesting book regarding how the shapes of the states were determined. It would have been nicer though if the author had listed them in cronlogical order rather than alphabetically.

Rating:
Date: 2008-07-01
History & geography.
This book is most interesting for those of us who enjoy maps along with history.

I would recommend reading it.

Rating:
Date: 2008-06-28
It Delivers!
The contents of this book are well described in other reviews. My only addition is to say that, as a total geography buff with low tolerance for chintzy illustrations in books that purport to be on that topic, I was not disappointed at all. There are 179 illustrations (i.e., maps), showing the "geographic" development of each state. The maps contain just enough detail; any more would have expanded the size of the book beyond usefulness as a 50-state overview. Some reviewers have criticized the alphabetical organization of the book, which necessitates a fair amount of cross referencing to other chapters (e.g., "See Figure 153 in SOUTH DAKOTA"), and suggested that it be organized instead by region (Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, etc.). This is a fair criticism, but in the end I think it boils down to personal taste. A regional organization probably would have required reading lengthy exegeses of regional developments, which would have turned this into a history book. As it is, it is a complete, concise, and copious survey of the topic -- and a delightful read.

Rating:
Date: 2008-06-16
Hold on a Minute
I agree the book has some interesting ideas in it, just not done very well. I could not even identify a thesis.

First, the book has no footnotes, no in text quotations from primary sources, and explanations are very, very brief. Each state gets about a page of typed material. The maps are small and lack the few details that are referenced in the text. For example, if the coal fields of north west Georgia explain the western border of Georgia, show us a map of the coal fields. If the Appalachain Mountains influenced Alabama, Georigia, and the Carolins, show us a map of the Appalachian Mountains. An elementary principle of writing books about maps: if you refer to something in the text as geographically significant, you better put a map in showing why. Maps are pictures, and writing about maps means using pictures as well as words.

Second, the book is poorly structured. While it may make sense to organize the states from A to W with each state given individual treatment, a reader can't easily grasp themes and concepts that guide one state's development with another. An example: Mississippi and Alabama and Florida. All these states's histories are bound up with each other, but to get the picture you have to flip through the book and maybe you can get an idea of what happened. A more logical structure would be to create sections (the Colonies, The Nortwest Territories, The Plains, The South, The West, The Pacific Coast with Alaska and Hawai'i) and then the reader can easily understand the forces at work. The states didn't develop in alphabetical order; why does this book?

Third: The book makes use of many implicit assumptions about why borders "should be" one way yet are not explained. While mentioned, it is never fully explained why Congress used equality as the basis for creating states. Equality of territory, population, access, ??? Since this idea makes up a substantial portion of the book, it needs to be developed fully with references, quotations from statutes, floor debates, etc.; more than a bibilography at the end. And the frequent assumption that it's "normal" to use rivers for borders or straight lines is not supported at all. Are these assumptions warranted?

The idea of the book is interesting, yet the execution leaves much to be desired. It has so much potential to show how economics, culture, and movement interact with geography to define political spaces. It is so lacking in support and important detail as to make it worthless for serious use.

I gave it two stars and not one because the author is, after all, a playwright and not a serious historian, and so I forgive the "History Channel" syle treatment of the material. The editors and publishers are to blame for the book's inadequacies. They should know what a history book is supposed to look like!

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