Title: Lost States: True Stories of Texlahoma, Transylvania, and Other States That Never Made it
Author: Michael J. Trinklein (His blog - Lost States)
Genre: Non-Fiction, Coffee Table Book, History
Publisher: Quirk Books, Publication Date: March 3, 2010
Hardcover: 160 pages
Original Language: English (American)
Audiobook or physical book: Hardcover (purchased)
Official Description:
Everyone knows the fifty winners but what about the hundreds of other statehood proposals that never worked out? Lost States is a tribute to such great unrealized states as West Florida, South California, Half-Breed Tracts, Rough and Ready, and others. History buffs will be entertained and enlightened by these bizarre-but-true stories:My review/summary:
Frontier legend Daniel Boone once proposed a state of Transylvania on the borders of Indiana and Illinois. (His plan was resurrected a few years later with the new name of Kentucky.)
Residents of bucolic South Jersey wanted to secede from their "filthy" north Jersey neighbors and form their own union.
The Gold Rush territory of Nataqua could have made a fine state but since no women were willing to live there, they had to settle for being part of California.
Accompanying the stories are beautiful full-color original maps detailing how these states' boundaries might have looked, along with images of real-life artifacts and ephemera. Lost States is a quirky reference book for history buffs, geography geeks, and anyone who enjoys lush, fascinating cartography.
Last Memorial Day weekend, I found myself in a position to dine alone in Freeport Maine because my husband couldn't join me for my ultramarathon debut. Having never dined alone I decided to pop into the local bookstore to find a book to read. I found an interesting young adult novel to read but was intrigued when I saw Lost States on the recommended books shelf.
I had just watched the history special How the States Got their Shapes
(which is actually a book too, How the States Got Their Shapes)
and had been especially intrigued by the proposed State of Franklin (which is now part of Tennessee). It was a matter of finding the right book at the right time for my interests. It has become on of my favorite coffee table books.It is a pleasant book in appearance each pair of pages features a different territory. One page being a description of the "state" with historical information as appropriate, along with small maps or pictures to add to the story. The opposite page is usually either a historical map or a map created by the author depicting the area of the region.
This is not only a history book. Or a book that can easily be read in short segments. It is humorous book as well. I found myself chuckling out loud a few times when I was reading about descriptions of people and places.
Another interesting feature, the book jacket opens up to be a much larger map of the map featured on the cover of the book. For those who want to see some of the states in better juxtaposition with the current states.
I found the historical aspects of the book to be very interesting. For example, the parts of the book that mention alternative methods of dividing California make a great deal more sense to me.
Final Verdict: If you like history, and you aren't a snob about reading only boring history Tombs, get this book. The book is full of great tidbits of information. It's one of my favorites now.
Some locations mentioned in book:
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