Ecco, 2008
Anyone who's lived in the United States will find something to enjoy in State by State. The day I brought the book home, I handed my copy to my mother-in-law, who immediately turned to Michigan. I was surprised, because I think of her as a Pennsylvanian; she lives in PA and my husband was born in Pittsburgh. But she foreshadowed one of the book's important themes: our hearts are tied to the places we grow up.
Please give yourself permission to flip directly to "your" state, whether it's the one you live in, the one you were born in, or the one you secretly love. An impressive group of contributors makes this a collection with no weak chapters. I found the tone of the essays impeccable: New York, by Jonathan Franzen, was delightfully irreverent, and THE CITY (you know the one!) nearly eclipsed the state. Louise Erdrich's North Dakota was both personal and full of figurative space. Alison Bechdel drew a graphic essay for Vermont, a state that allows people to think a little differently. And Carrie Brownstein brought the weather inside to do perfect justice to Washington.
Anyone who's lived in the United States will find something to enjoy in State by State. The day I brought the book home, I handed my copy to my mother-in-law, who immediately turned to Michigan. I was surprised, because I think of her as a Pennsylvanian; she lives in PA and my husband was born in Pittsburgh. But she foreshadowed one of the book's important themes: our hearts are tied to the places we grow up.
Please give yourself permission to flip directly to "your" state, whether it's the one you live in, the one you were born in, or the one you secretly love. An impressive group of contributors makes this a collection with no weak chapters. I found the tone of the essays impeccable: New York, by Jonathan Franzen, was delightfully irreverent, and THE CITY (you know the one!) nearly eclipsed the state. Louise Erdrich's North Dakota was both personal and full of figurative space. Alison Bechdel drew a graphic essay for Vermont, a state that allows people to think a little differently. And Carrie Brownstein brought the weather inside to do perfect justice to Washington.
State by State is beautifully produced, beginning with a cover image from the WPA Writer's Project "American Guide Week" poster (1941). Cute endpapers drawn by the cartoonist Seth show a not-to-scale map of the fifty states that picks up the themes of each essay. Chapters begin with a list of state facts, including the capital city, state bird, state flower, state song, median age, and more. The preface (by Matt Weiland) and introduction (Sean Wilsey) are both chatty and informative.
It's important to know that this book reprises, in a sense, a project from the 1930s: the WPA American Guide series of the Federal Writer's Project. That project produced hundreds of books, pamphlets, guides to major cities, oral histories, slave narratives, and recordings of folk songs. Many of the contributors to State by State reference the WPA materials. Statistical tables at the end provide a great overview of all the states at once.
It's important to know that this book reprises, in a sense, a project from the 1930s: the WPA American Guide series of the Federal Writer's Project. That project produced hundreds of books, pamphlets, guides to major cities, oral histories, slave narratives, and recordings of folk songs. Many of the contributors to State by State reference the WPA materials. Statistical tables at the end provide a great overview of all the states at once.
I read State by State in one fell swoop, alphabetically. If you read the whole country as one story, you learn that Americans are outsiders anywhere they weren't born, and that everyone itches to leave and then longs for home. Much of the book feels nostalgic; writers look back at a time when their state seemed better, less developed, more welcoming. Some states include a lot of history: others are more personal. Many authors stick to the cities they know best. All the state mottos are pretentious. I read Pennsylvania in the Philadelphia airport, which was kind of a thrill, and I was not disappointed by Susan Orlean's treatment of my birth state, Ohio. I drew up sketchy plans to move to Maine, Idaho, or North Dakota. I could feel the humidity in Florida as if I were there. I learned why Virginia has no state song. I discovered that we, as a nation, are still struggling with race. I learned that there's something to love about every state.
I'm going to put State by State in a prominent spot on the bookshelf in the guest bedroom, so that our visitors can flip directly to their own states, and then start back at the beginning in Alabama. I think they'll love this book.
I'm going to put State by State in a prominent spot on the bookshelf in the guest bedroom, so that our visitors can flip directly to their own states, and then start back at the beginning in Alabama. I think they'll love this book.
