Publisher's Synopsis
This is American history they don't teach you in class: Discover the "fascinating, funny" stories of the states that never were, from Texlahoma to West Florida (The New Yorker)
Everyone knows the fifty nifty united states-but what about the hundreds of other statehood proposals that never came to pass? Lost States is a tribute to such great unrealized dreams as West Florida, Texlahoma, Montezuma, Rough and Ready, and Yazoo. Some of these states came remarkably close to joining the Union. Others never had a chance. Many are still trying. Consider:
Frontier legend Daniel Boone once proposed a state of Transylvania in the Appalachian wilderness. His plan was resurrected a few years later with the new name of Kentucky.
Residents of bucolic South Jersey wanted to secede from their urban north Jersey neighbors and form the fifty-first state.
The Gold Rush territory of Nataqua could have made a fine state-but since no women were willing to live there, the settlers gave up and joined California.
Each story offers a fascinating glimpse at the nation we might have become-along with plenty of absurd characters, bureaucratic red tape, and political gamesmanship. Accompanying these tales are beautifully rendered maps detailing the proposed state boundaries, plus images of real-life artifacts and ephemera. Welcome to the world of Lost States!
