(2011)A good follow-up to his original book with this one placing the main emphasis on the people behind how states got their borders or came into existence. Even touches on those areas that did not become states such as Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. I came away from this feeling that the common thread as usual is politics. Booklist Stein's How the States Got Their Shapes (2008) described why the American states look the way they do¥how their borders landed where they did. This equally informative follow-up puts the spotlight on the people responsible for shaping those borders. People like Roger Williams, the Puritan minister who was expelled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for advocating against the Church of England and established the township of Providence at the tip of the bay, and Anne Hutchinson, also banished, who secured the rights to a small island called Aquidneck by the Indians and Rhode Island by the British. OrÂ¥and this is a curious oneÂ¥Robert Jenkins, the sea captain whose severed ear played a key role in establishing the boundary between Florida and Georgia. Stein, a playwright and screenwriter, writes history the way it should be written, as an entertaining story and not merely a tedious list of names, dates, and places. This is a very interesting follow-up to the earlier book, but it works equally well as a stand-alone.

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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