Book Review - "How the States Got Their Shapes"

How the States Got Their Shapes
        -by Mark Stein-

In conjunction with Lost States: True Stories of Texlahoma, Transylvania, and Other States That Never Made It, I also heartily recommend How the States Got Their Shapes by Mark Stein.  It details the crazy journeys our wonderful 50 states took in order to end-up in the shapes that we know and love today.  For example, did you know that Washington (before it got the D.C. moniker) was supposed to be a square city, made up of equal parcels of land donated by both Maryland and Virginia?  Well, the city wasn’t growing that fast and Virginia was eventually able to reclaim their gift.  I bet D.C. really regrets that now!  Also, you were probably not aware that Illinois owes its possession of “Chicago” to slavery, in particular, New England hatred of slavery.  Illinois businessmen sold the federal government on the idea that by giving Illinois a toehold on Lake Michigan they would be able to connect the goods of New England to the markets of the midwestern states, all without having to go through the South-controlled Mississippi River.  All of these stories and more are presented in How the States Got Their Shapes in short little stories that do an excellent job of illuminating this very important, though much overlooked, portion of United States history.