How the States Got Their Shapes Too: The People Behind the Borderlines

Being a sequel, or supplement, to the author's magnificent How the states got their shapes. This book concentrates on telling the stories of some of the individuals involved in the border sagas. The book thus largely lacks the definitive and careful exposition of the first book, whilst allowing Stein fuller use of his pleasing storytelling skills. In a few cases, Stein wanders away from the premise and his accounts relate more to how an area became (or didn't become) a state or territory, and some of the people he chooses as his subjects (e.g., Stephen Douglas, Sam Houston) are somewhat too well known to require a mini-biography. It's been a while since I read the original book, and I haven't seen a great deal of the associated show more television show, but there doesn't seem to be a great deal of repetition. This is a good book, but it certainly is better in the context of its predecessor. show less

Very similar to the first book by Stein, [b:How the States Got Their Shapes|3090529|How the States Got Their Shapes|Mark Stein|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347530575s/3090529.jpg|3121631]. Same ironic writing style, same view of geographic history being the history of individuals and how important decisions are sometimes made by the loudest voice and not necessarily the most reasoned voice. As with the first book, read the chapters that sound interesting and skip the others, although there is even more overlapping here of the characters than in the first book. Recommended for people who want to know more about the history of the United States, and Americans.

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