Overview

In 1790, America was in enormous debt, having depleted what little money and supplies the country had during its victorious fight for independence. Before the nation's greatest asset, the land west of the Ohio River, could be sold it had to be measured out and mapped. And before that could be done, a uniform set of measurements had to be chosen for the new republic out of the morass of roughly 100,000 different units that were in use in daily life.Measuring America tells the fascinating story of how we ultimately gained the American Customary System—the last traditional system in the world—and how one man's surveying chain indelibly imprinted its dimensions on the land, on cities, and on our culture from coast to coast.

Full Product Details

Author:   Andro Linklater
Publisher:   Penguin Books Ltd
Imprint:   New American Library
Dimensions:   Width: 14.00cm , Height: 1.80cm , Length: 21.30cm
Weight:   0.295kg
ISBN:  

9780452284593

ISBN 10:   0452284597
Pages:   320
Publication Date:   30 September 2003
Recommended Age:   From 18 years
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

Table of Contents

Measuring AmericaIntroduction One: The Invention of Landed Property Two: Precise Confusion Three: Who Owned America? Four: Life, Liberty, or What? Five: Simple Arithmatic Six: A Line Drawn in the Wilderness Seven: The French Dimension Eight: Democratic Decimals Nine: The Birth of the Metric System Ten: Dombey's Luck Eleven: The End of Putnam Twelve: The Immaculate Grid Thirteen: The Shape of Cities Fourteen: Hassler's Passion Fifteen: The Dispossesed Sixteen: The Limit of Enclosure Seventeen: Four Against Ten Eighteen: Metric Triumphant Epilogue: The Witness Tree Acknowledgments Appendix: General Tables of Units of Measurement Notes Bibliography Index

Reviews

[Linklater] has the talent not just to let us know how things work, but to make us want to know...A magical mystery tour that leaves the reader both mildly footsore and exhilarated by unexpected connections. --The New York Times What's great about history, when done well, is how even the most familiar topics, from the American Revolution to WWII, can be revisited again and again, not just to retell stories but to offer a fresh perspective. That is what Andro Linklater does in Measuring America. --USA Today Remarkable...Linklater traces with unusual elegance and a keen wit the epic story of measuring our nation, charting the process by which, with each length of the surveyor's chain, new states were literally bought into being. --Los Angeles Times A

Ý Measuring America deserves to be a classic... (Simon Winchester, Boston Globe )

Author Information

Andro Linklater (1944–2013) was a journalist, biographer, and author. Linklater was most known for exploring the history of property ownership in America in his work. His books include The Fabric of America and Measuring America. He died at age 68 of a heart attack while researching for a new book on the history of land possession in the Hebrides.

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

No review item found!

Add your own review!

Countries Available

All regions