This book is aimed at young and old alike interested in American geography and history, and for travelers of all ages interested in learning about the states they visit while touring the U. S. It is also aimed at the armchair traveler who enjoys the study of maps and history.

This book explores the foundations for the shapes of the fifty states. It shows how the nation expanded from thirteen colonies clinging to the Atlantic seacoast to fifty individual states spanning the continent and beyond into the Pacific Ocean and north to the Arctic Circle. It explains the methodology for the formation of territories and the states that were carved from those territories. It delves into peculiarities of the shape of various states such as why Michigan was granted the Upper Peninsula instead of Wisconsin, why does Idaho have a panhandle reaching the Canadian border, and why does the northern border of Minnesota have an irregularity that extends into Canada. And it delves into the political and economic influences that helped determine the shape of the states.