|
| How the States Got Their Shapes | 
 enlarge | Author: Mark Stein
Publisher: Collins
Category: Book
List Price: $22.95
Buy New: $14.15
You Save: $8.80 (38%)
New (37) Used (9) from $13.98
Avg. Customer Rating:  35 reviews
Sales Rank: 563
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 5.8 x 1.3
ISBN: 0061431389
Dewey Decimal Number: 917.3
EAN: 9780061431388
ASIN: 0061431389
Publication Date: June 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: BRAND NEW
|
| Customer Reviews:
 It Delivers! June 28, 2008
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
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.
Enjoyable tidbits July 14, 2008
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
Driving though Northeastern PA, I often passed a historical marker describing that the area was CT in the mid-18th Century. So, when I saw this book, I purchased it initially so that I could learn more about this intriguing part of history. This book is enjoyable and informative and helps the reader make sense of aspects of American history. It is structured so that you can pick it up now and then and read various state histories when your time and inclination permit. Not only did I learn about PA and CT, Plymouth versus Massachusetts settlements, Jefferson's ideas, and various latitudes, but I was fascinated by the anti-Mormon and pro- silver and gold sentiments that created Nevada; why Alabama and Mississippi look like mirror images; the various notches in state borders, the importance of rivers, and so much more.
Borders all over the map September 1, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I live in the panhandle of Connecticut and have always been fascinated about the vast irregularity of the borders of most of the United States. Author Mark Stein's informative new book, "How the States Got Their Shapes" is a quick report as to how each state's boundaries came into play...and there are dozens of different reasons why.
Two things stand out in Stein's book...the shaping of many of the eastern states (due to charters by England's Charles I and II) and the western ones by Congress (in an attempt to make states of equal a size as possible). In between these two devices all chaos ensues. It's one thing to have a river act as a natural boundary but if one looks at a map of the United States, rivers come and go supplanted by straight lines which don't always follow parallels or meridians. There are stories of bad surveying, compromises about gold mines and Indians, lines made anew to give certain states more access to lakes and to keep certain cities within some borders, interstate negotiations and the inevitable wars that helped to redraw the boundaries.
Stein's book would have been better organized by region than by state capitalization (there are continuous references to flip back or forward when better arrangements could have been made) and there are dates that are simply wrong or misleading... (Texas became a state in 1845, not 1846 and the Hoover Dam is listed as being created in 1935 AND 1936). But with the introduction of each state, Stein asks the reader to ponder questions about why that particular entity looks the way it does and that is, in itself, a nice historical challenge.
"How the States Got Their Shapes" is a good, if not a great or deep attempt to answer these questions but it does provide many facts we never learned in school. I recommend it for that reason.
 Disappointing August 29, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
This book is somewhat interesting, but overall it is very disappointing. Light on substance, heavy on repetition, and full of errors.
It quickly glosses over major historical events to race through each state's borders. The choice of dealing with the states alphabetically is odd and leads to reiteration of the same facts over and over without deeper explanation. The French and Indian War is mentioned 16 times, but the causes of it are never described.
Errors are frequent. In "Arizona," Stein writes about a buffer "...around the town of Yuma, California..." Yuma is in Arizona. He states that Texas joined the United States in 1846. It became a state in 1845. He never describes New Hampshire's northern border, stating that the western border of that state is the Connecticut River but completely ignoring the fact that the northern border departs from the river on its way to Maine.
The book seems amateurish and incomplete. I realize the author is a playwright, but that is not an excuse. It left me wanting more.
How the States Got their Shapes August 3, 2008
4 out of 9 found this review helpful
Not nearly as exciting as the promo which enticed me to buy the book in the first place. After checking out the several states in which we've lived, we find that all of them are simply the results of political/greed maneuvering. After the first three or four states, it becomes repetitive/boring. Somehow, though naive, I had expected more.
I cannot recommend the book. It is as interesting as political gyrations can be.
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
