More of a history of the times than an explanation of how borders and boundaries were determined.
This is the kind of book that should have plenty of maps but there were only a couple and they were pretty much unreadable.
The writing is good and it flows well, though there is some timeline back and forth that can be confusing.
Interesting but not what I was expecting based on the description. ( )

The Fabric of America: how our borders and boundaries shaped the country and forged our national identity (2007) by Andro Linklater is built on a thesis that the idea of the United States being defined by the frontier and rugged individualism - with Frederick Jackson Turner as a major proponent - is not true. Instead of the frontier, Linklater believes that our nation is defined by our frontiers, the national boundaries fixed by government agencies. Within these boundaries, Linklater contends instead of wanting less government, pioneers brought government with them in the form of surveying, land claims, squatters' rights, and establishment of local governments.

Most of the book doesn't really stick with the thesis but instead is a history of the United States' borders. A major portion of the book tells the story of Andrew Ellicot who surveyed the boundaries of Pennsylvania (picking up where Mason & Dixon left off), Washington, DC, and the boundary between the U.S. and Spanish Florida. There are lots of interesting historical facts about how the nation and states took their shape as well as the practice of surveying, of which Ellicot was an innovator.

The portions of the book from Ellicot's death in 1820 to the present feel rushed and unfocused. Linklater's theory about how our nation's boundaries defined us feel tacked on to the more interesting historical narrative. Still, this was an interesting and quick historical read. ( )

For anyone interested in why the state boundaries wound up where they are, a very good book to read. It is a little surprising to see how deliberate each and every border was, and as a native Pennsylvanian to see how big a part of the story the PA border played(some folks know how we got the semi-circle in the SE, but does anyone know how we got the weird triangle up on Lake Erie?) ( )

How borders and frontiers have determined the expansion of the American nation and culture from colonial times through today. Features Andrew Ellicott, one of America's earliest astronomers, who began a career shaping the nation by extending the Mason-Dixon line to the west to enclose Pennslyvania and separate it from Virginia and New York. He went on to draw western borders with Spanish territory along the Mississippi River (and help push the Spanish settlers out of the newly enclosed lands); between Spanish Florida and the southernmost states; between the United States and Canada; did most of the surveying (and a fair amount of the design) of Washington, D.C.; and who took part in the definition of most of the other borders drawn during the rest of the United States' continental expansion either in person or through his influence as an instructor at West Point. ( )

2/18/23