HOW THE STATES GOT SHAPES TOO(ISBN=) 英文原版

　　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.

　　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.
Stein has also taught writing and drama at American University and
Catholic University. His previous book, How the States Got Their
Shapes, a New York Times bestseller, was the basis for The History
Channel’s documentary of the same name.

　　Library Journal
　　Stein, Mark. How the States Got Their Shapes Too: The People
Behind the Borderlines. Smithsonian. Jun. 2011. c.360p. illus.
maps. index. ISBN 9781588343147. $24.95. HIST
　　In an evocative sequel to his popular How the States Got Their
Shapes, Stein presents a plentitude of varied and compelling
biographical sketches associated with the setting of our national
boundaries. The personalities, both the notable (e.g., Thomas
Jefferson, Daniel Webster, Ethan Allen, Charles Mason, and Jeremiah
Dixon) and the more obscure (Zebulon Butler, Clara Nichols, John
Meares) and their agendas are central to the book. Readers are
reminded that under President James K. Polk, U.S. boundaries grew
exponentially to include Texas and all lands between the Rockies
and the Pacific, producing a colossal headache for Congress and a
dilemma largely solved by such outsize local personalities as Sam
Houston and Brigham Young. The author also treats lands we
attempted to annex but lost: Canada, the remainder of Mexico, Cuba,
and the persistent issue of Puerto Rico. Readers will be inspired
by Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton’s dogged campaign to win
statehood for the District of Columbia. VERDICT Stein’s major and
minor vignettes are well chosen from a wide array of primary and
secondary sources. The book offers a perfect blend of optimism,
tongue-in-cheek humor, and universal appeal. A winning effort.—John
Carver Edwards, Univ. of Georgia Libs., Cleveland
　　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. Or—and this is a curious one—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.— David Pitt
　　Kirkus Reviews
　　A fun sequel offers more recondite tidbits of American
history.
　　With 50 states, there are plenty of details about border
controversies for this mildly titillating follow-up to screenwriter
Stein’s How the States Got Their Shapes (2008), which in turn
inspired the History Channel’s eponymous documentary. The
personalities behind the disputes take center stage: Charles Mason
and Jeremiah Dixon, who were actually a pair of highly accomplished
English surveyors of the Royal Society possibly hired by Benjamin
Franklin to establish impartially the disputed 300-mile
Pennsylvania-Maryland-Delaware boundary. “Asking Mason and Dixon to
survey a boundary in America,” writes the author, “was… akin to
asking Mozart to play at a prom.” Thanks to Ethan Allen (“not a
furniture maker”) and his motley posse of Green Mountain Boys, the
homesteads making up the future Vermont were saved from rapacious
New Yorkers. It is largely due to the zeal (or wealth) of John
Hardeman Walker who “put the boot heel on Missouri” in order to
keep his land from sinking into Arkansas. Under the presidency of
James K. Polk, America’s borders increased greatly, incorporating
Texas, the Oregon Territory and everything in between the Rockies
and the Pacific, creating a massive befuddlement for lawmakers;
bright lights such as Sam Houston, Brigham Young and John Sutter
would all wield profound influence on the shape of the states
affiliated with their names. Stein includes contributions by
important women, including proto-feminist Clarina Nichols, who
moved her family to Kansas for the purpose of creating an
anti-slavery majority in 1854, and Representative Eleanor Holmes
Norton, who attempted tirelessly to win statehood for the District
of Columbia. Overall, the author provides plenty of good stuff for
tournament quizzes and Jeopardy questions.
　　Bright, readable and accessible for all ages.