The Not-Quite States of America

By Doug Mack,

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

Book description

Everyone knows that America is 50 states and... some other stuff. The U.S. territories-American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands-and their 4 million people are little known and often forgotten, so Doug Mack set out on a 30,000-mile journey to learn about them.…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked The Not-Quite States of America as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Author Doug Mack took the time to visit and immerse himself in various communities in the US' "not quite states:" American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), and the U.S. Virgin Islands. I know because I was one of the people who showed him around and shared my own story when he visited Saipan, CNMI. When I received my copy of the book several months later, I was as captivated by the stories of the expats and "locals" in the other outposts as I was by those here on Saipan. Doug's attention to detail,…

From Walt's list on life on Saipan.

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.

From Mark's list on boundaries.

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