Was Roger Williams too pure for the Puritans, and what does that have to
do with Rhode Island? Why did Augustine Herman take ten years to
complete the map that established Delaware? How did Rocky Mountain
rogues help create the state of Colorado? All this and more is explained
in Mark Stein's new book.
How the States Got Their Shapes Too follows How the States Got Their
Shapes looks at American history through the lens of its borders, but,
while How The States Got Their Shapes told us why, this book tells us
who. This personal element in the boundary stories reveals how we today
are like those who came before us, and how we differ, and most
significantly: how their collective stories reveal not only an
historical arc but, as importantly, the often overlooked human dimension
in that arc that leads to the nation we are today.
The people featured in How the States Got Their Shapes Too lived from
the colonial era right up to the present. They include African
Americans, Native Americans, Hispanics, women, and of course, white men.
Some are famous, such as Thomas Jefferson, John Quincy Adams, and Daniel
Webster. Some are not, such as Bernard Berry, Clarina Nichols, and
Robert Steele. And some are names many of us know but don't really know
exactly what they did, such as Ethan Allen (who never made furniture,
though he burned a good deal of it).
In addition, How the States Got Their Shapes Too tells of individuals
involved in the Almost States of America, places we sought to include
but ultimately did not: Canada, the rest of Mexico (we did get half),
Cuba, and, still an issue, Puerto Rico.
Each chapter is largely driven by voices from the time, in the form of
excerpts from congressional debates, newspapers, magazines, personal
letters, and diaries.
Told in Mark Stein's humorous voice, How the States Got Their Shapes Too
is a historical journey unlike any other you've taken. The strangers you
meet here had more on their minds than simple state lines, and this book
makes for a great new way of seeing and understanding the United States.
