Measuring America; How an Untamed Wilderness Shaped the United States and Fulfilled the Promise of Democracy

New York: Walker & Company, 2002. First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. [8], 310, [2] pages. Frontis map. Illustrations. Maps. Appendix: General Tables of Units of Measurement. Notes. Bibliography. Index. DJ is in a plastic sleeve. Pencil erasure residue noted on page 292. Andro Linklater (10 December 1944 - 3 November 2013) was a Scottish non-fiction writer and historian. His book Measuring America led to a series of books on American history, about which he was an eloquent speaker. His work appeared in Prospect Magazine,[4] The Spectator,[5] The Sunday Times, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, Reader's Digest and Daily Mail. Derived from a Kirkus review: Sturdy prose conveys the remarkable, still inspiring story of the struggle to standardize measurements and to apply them from sea to shining sea. Linklater begins on September 30, 1785, near Liverpool, Ohio, where Thomas Hutchins began surveying the public lands of the US. The narrative then circles back to early-16th-century England and to the nascent and novel notion of land ownership. He provides a primer in surveying and then recounts the long effort to standardize weights and measures. We learn new stories about Washington and Jefferson, and we struggle along with the early surveyors who crossed swamps, forests, fields, streams, rivers, and purple mountains majestic as they unrolled chains, plotted townships and states, and established the stunning grids still visible today by cross-country air passengers. Linklater emphasizes the connections between measurement and commerce. He writes with a command of detail and ample wit.