How The States Got Their Shapes [Paperback]

Mark Stein is a playwright and screenwriter. His plays have been performed off-Broadway and at theaters throughout the country. His films includeHousesitter, with Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn. He has taught at American University and Catholic University.

Give me the splendid irregularities any day. God bless the panhandles and notches, the West Virginias and Oklahomas.For anyone whos been confounded by the largest of all jigsaw puzzles, the one that carved out those fifty weirdly formed states, here is the solution. Its history, its geography, its comedy, its indispensable.If you ever wondered why Delaware owns a small portion of the southwest New Jersey coast, the answer is here!A fascinating and wonderfully entertaining account of an often-overlooked oddity of Americas history: how the jigsaw-puzzle layout of the United States emerged. I never thought a book on geography could be funny, but Mark Stein has pulled it off.