The best books on boundaries

Mark Stein Author Of How the States Got Their Shapes
By Mark Stein

Who am I?

As a teenager, I wondered why my state, Maryland, didn’t include Delaware. Later, at the University of Wisconsin, I wondered why its northeastern peninsula was part of Michigan. Then I started wondering about boring borders -- why Colorado’s and Wyoming’s lines are where they are and not a mile or so so this way or that? I ended up writing How the States Got Their Shapes, followed by The People Behind the Borderlines.

I wrote...

How the States Got Their Shapes

By Mark Stein

Book cover of How the States Got Their Shapes

What is my book about?

Why does Oklahoma have that panhandle? Did someone make a mistake? We are so familiar with the map of the United States that our state borders seem as much a part of nature as mountains and rivers. Even the oddities—the entire state of Maryland(!)—have become so engrained that our map might as well be a giant jigsaw puzzle designed by Divine Providence. But that's where the real mystery begins. Every edge of the familiar wooden jigsaw pieces of our childhood represents a revealing moment of history and of, well, humans drawing lines in the sand.

How the States Got Their Shapes is the first book to tackle why our state lines are where they are. Here are the stories behind the stories, right down to the tiny northward jog at the eastern end of Tennessee and the teeny-tiny (and little known) parts of Delaware that are not attached to Delaware but to New Jersey.

When you buy a book we may earn a small commission.

The Books I Picked & Why

The Not-Quite States of America: Dispatches from the Territories and Other Far-Flung Outposts of the USA

By Doug Mack

Book cover of The Not-Quite States of America: Dispatches from the Territories and Other Far-Flung Outposts of the USA

Why this book?

Our borderlines tell us a lot about who we are -- and who we are not. Many Americans know, for instance, that Puerto Rico is a U.S. Territory and likely know why there is reluctance in Puerto Rico and Congress for it to become a state: language y cultura. These two factors may play some part in why the English-speaking Territories of Guam, Samoa, the Northern Marianas and the Virgin Islands are not states, but why are they U.S. possessions? Doug Mack’s book digs into these borders that are -- and simultaneously are not -- the United States.

When you buy a book we may earn a small commission.

American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America

By Colin Woodard

Book cover of American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America

Why this book?

Some of our state lines were cultural borders. The Colony of Massachusetts was founded by and for Puritans; Maryland was created for Catholics; Pennsylvania for Quakers. That process continued after the Revolution, regardless of state (or later-to-become state) lines. Colin Woodard’s book explores the founding of such cultural regions and reveals how those not-on-the-map lines influence our differing views to this day.

When you buy a book we may earn a small commission.

Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West

By William Cronon

Book cover of Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West

Why this book?

This book really jogged the way I look at maps and contributed to my wondering about boundaries. Using Chicago as his base point, William Cronon breaks apart one of the fundamental geographic borders in our minds: urban versus rural. He shows just how interconnected we are -- including those “parasites” we call middlemen, by explaining (and making interesting!) the Chicago Commodities Exchange.

When you buy a book we may earn a small commission.

Cessions of Land by Indian Tribes to the United States

By Charles C. Royce

Book cover of Cessions of Land by Indian Tribes to the United States

Why this book?

This book is not so much one to read, being more of an atlas. And atlases are expensive. Except this one. It’s free! Published by the U.S. Government in 1899 but still available online, it’s an extraordinary collection of Native American borders that got changed...and changed...and changed. It is history in the raw, from back in that time. More importantly, it is history we all need to know, if we are to know who we are as a nation today.

When you buy a book we may earn a small commission.

Underland: A Deep Time Journey

By Robert MacFarlane

Book cover of Underland: A Deep Time Journey

Why this book?

Humans create all kinds of borders. They’re invaluable in helping us make sense of the world. Robert Macfarlane’s book brilliantly explores what might be called “dark borders.” From below ground borders via, for instance, caves into which he takes his readers (claustrophobic readers beware!) to the discovery of dark matter in the universe and how physicists “map” what can’t be seen. But the best part is his revealing the significance of these dark realms to the human experience...and, in the case of “dark matter,” to existence itself.

When you buy a book we may earn a small commission.

Closely Related Book Lists

The best books on spirituality and wilderness

Belden C. Lane Author Of The Solace of Fierce Landscapes: Exploring Desert and Mountain Spirituality Belden C. Lane

The best speculative fiction about sex and society

Lizzie Newell Author Of The Fisherman and the Gene Thief Lizzie Newell

The best books that illuminate systems of power and oppression

Joy Lisi Rankin Author Of A People's History of Computing in the United States Joy Lisi Rankin

The best books to spice up your shelves

Eleanor Ford Author Of The Nutmeg Trail: Recipes and Stories Along the Ancient Spice Routes Eleanor Ford

Distantly Related Book Lists

The best books that explore fantastic worlds

Michael D. Young Author Of The Hunger Michael D. Young

The best books for feeling awestruck about the world

Matthew D. LaPlante Author Of Superlative: The Biology of Extremes Matthew D. LaPlante

The best Asian history books for a Sunday afternoon

Michael Schuman Author Of Superpower Interrupted: The Chinese History of the World Michael Schuman

The best novels that are stealth environmental histories

Julie Cohn Author Of The Grid: Biography of an American Technology Julie Cohn