How the States Got Their Shapes
by Mark Stein
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Book Summary Information
Author: Mark SteinEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-04-07
ISBN: 0061431397
Number of pages: 352
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780061431395
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
Book Reviews of How the States Got Their Shapes
Book Review: Interesting but with problems
Summary: 3 Stars
This is a very interesting but seriously flawed book.
Generally it's a very interesting read. But it's a bit repetitive at times, and he ponderously drives his point home, chapter after chapter after chapter, that state after state after state proves that Congress was trying to create states with roughly equal economic opportunity. Even the states that would appear to be evidence against that point are instead the exceptions that prove the rule. For a book which must of necessity skim quickly over many fascinating historical episodes, it's annoying how much space was used on that.
Regarding the state-by-state alphabetical arrangement, I can certainly understand that for a book aimed at non-specialists, it needed that arrangement to sell well, because most people will want to skip right to their own state (as I did). But even with the introductory section explaining some major events that affected many state lines, it still gets very repetitive when the same facts are discussed twice (and sometimes more) for each boundary. It would have been better to have two sections: an alphabetical state-by-state section, and a section of lots of appendices. Then each state chapter could be very brief, referencing the relevant appendices.
Regarding footnotes, I can understand that it would be a mistake to fill a book aimed at non-specialists with lots of long-winded, small-print footnotes underneath the main text. But there is a better way which is quite common and works very well -- have the footnotes at the end of the book. Readers can ignore them or read them as desired. This is a book that needed footnotes. Putting them all at the end of the book would have worked well.
When I came here to read reviews of this book, I was dismayed at the many factual errors pointed out in several reviews. As other reviewers have said, the number and magnitude of factual errors call into question everything I thought I learned from the book.
As a longtime resident of Washington State, I was surprised to find no mention at all of what I think is by far the most interesting episode in the history of Washington State's boundaries -- the Pig War, by which the USA took the San Juan Islands, now part of Washington State, from England. Even if you accept the USA's very strained argument that it was ours from the beginning, it was still a signficant boundary dispute that should at least have been mentioned.
Here's a good example of the kinds of problems that fill this book:
As a longtime resident of Oregon and Washington State, I just about fell out of my chair when I read that Oregon might have consisted of what is now Western Oregon and Western Washington State, with its Eastern border a Northward continuation of California's Eastern border, but for "objections by those citizens to a vertical border along the crest of the Cascade Mountains". The book even shows a map of "Possible Oregon", consisting of today's Western Oregon and Western Washington, with its Eastern border a Northward continuation of California's Eastern border.
There are three problems with that:
1) That's a very interesting fact, which as an almost lifelong resident of the area I've never heard of, and for which I can find absolutely nothing on the internet. A footnote would have been very helpful. I checked out the Oregon book and the Washington book listed in the bibliography, but neither one mentions it. I'm currently reading another book about the region's territorial history, which also does not mention it.
2) As interesting as that fact is for Oregon and Washington State -- especially considering today's virtual civil war between liberal Western Washington State and conservative Eastern Washington State, divided by the Cascade Mountains -- it is NOT MENTIONED AT ALL in this book's Oregon and Washington State chapters!!! I had to read them both twice to be sure. No, if you want to read that startling fact about Oregon and Washington State, and see the map of "Possible Oregon", you'll have to go to the UTAH chapter. Yes. If you don't believe me, it's on page 272, and the map is on page 273 (figure 162).
3) A border that continued California's Eastern border Northward, as shown on the map on page 273, would not, by a long shot, be "along the crest of the Cascade Mountains". Instead, that border would be mostly far to the East of the Crest of the Cascade Mountains -- in fact, most of it would be far to the East even of the Eastern foothills of the Cascade Mountains. For example, it would include Bend, OR and Yakima, WA, both of which would be well to the West of that border. On the Columbia River, it would easily include Arlington. The book is silent about that huge discrepancy.
Quite frankly, I'm skeptical about the claim. But I'd very much like to know where the author found, or thought he found, that information.
Bottom line -- if you can find a more serious book about state boundary history, read it instead of this one. If you decide to read this one, enjoy it, but be aware that there are many factual errors.
Summary of How the States Got Their Shapes
Mark Stein is a playwright and screenwriter. His plays have been performed off-Broadway and at theaters throughout the country. His films include Housesitter, with Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn. He has taught at American University and Catholic University.
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