How the states originally got their stories

We have tweeted about and talked about and shown the History Channel’s How the States Got Their Shapes often since the original 2 hour special aired and have sat entranced as Brian Unger has taken us through the first six episodes of the season. BUT…we probably need to take a step back and make sure to give the credit of the shows concept to Mark Stein who published the book of the same name back in 2008. In addition, Mr Stein has just released How the States Got Their Shapes Too: The People Behind the Borderlines which, as the name suggests, looks at the people who were most influential in creating the borders in the US. In the mean time, while we take some time to read the new book, you can check out a presentation Mark Stein gave to the Library of Congress about the first book.