How the States Got Their Shapes

A mistake made by the Founding Fathers affects the Georgia-Tennessee border; why Maine has so much water.

Why Chicago could have been in Wisconsin; why are states out West so big and boxy; Forgottonia.

How an asteroid created the border for three states; how glaciers that plowed the Great Plains altered the map.

Why Montana looks like it took a bite out of Idaho; why Texas was broken up into five states; why are there two Carolinas.

Behind blank spots like Area 51; what possessed the citizens of Key West to secede from Florida; old missile bunkers turned into dream homes; a county that was left off Georgia's quarter.

A corner of Washington, DC is stolen; Is Ohio a state?; why St. Louis isn't the nation's capital.

Could Utah have been bigger than Texas?; how religion shattered New England into little shapes; the Civil War's origin in Kansas.

How Green Bay helped carve the border with Canada; what football has to do with fur; is North Carolina the real Golden State; why everyone should move to North Dakota.

World War II preserves the shape of California; part of Maine becomes northern Massachusetts; Florida's cowboy tradition.

Why southern accents didn't exist until after the Civil War; California athletes coin new words; pop versus soda; an accent that may cause New York to break up.