The Not-Quite States of America: Dispatches from the Territories and Other Far-Flung Outposts of the USA
Description
"To truly understand the United States, one must understand the 'not-quite states of America." —Mark Stein, best-selling author of How the States Got Their Shapes
Everyone knows that America is 50 states and…some other stuff. Scattered shards in the Pacific and the Caribbean, the not-quite states—American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands—and their 4 million people are often forgotten, even by most Americans. But they’re filled with American flags, U.S. post offices, and Little League baseball games. How did these territories come to be part of the United States? What are they like? And why aren’t they states?
When Doug Mack realized just how little he knew about the territories, he set off on a globe-hopping quest covering more than 30,000 miles to see them all. In the U.S. Virgin Islands, Mack examines the Founding Fathers’ arguments over expansion. He explores Polynesia’s outsize influence on American culture, from tiki bars to tattoos, in American Samoa. He tours Guam with members of a military veterans’ motorcycle club, who offer personal stories about the territory’s role in World War II and its present-day importance for the American military. In the Northern Mariana Islands, he learns about star-guided seafaring from one of the ancient tradition’s last practitioners. And everywhere he goes in Puerto Rico, he listens in on the lively debate over political status—independence, statehood, or the status quo.
The Not-Quite States of America is an entertaining account of the territories’ place in the USA, and it raises fascinating questions about the nature of empire. As Mack shows, the territories aren’t mere footnotes to American history; they are a crucial part of the story.
Praise for The Not-Quite States of America: Dispatches from the Territories and Other Far-Flung Outposts of the USA
Mack catalogues his thirty-thousand-mile trek through [the territories], and examines the traits they have inherited from the U.S.—little-league games, star-spangled banners—and the cultural crisscross that makes them unique examples of America’s own hybridized culture.
— The New Yorker
Mack includes you in all the fun of his journey.
— Michael Upchurch - Seattle Times
A read you can’t put down and can’t quit rolling around in your mind afterward.
— Nichole L. Reber - Ploughshares
[Mack] finds surprising patriotism (and adventure) in American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
— Allen Pierleoni - Sacramento Bee
Witty and thoughtful, with plenty of vibrant characters and vivid descriptions, The Not-Quite States of America is also a well-researched history and a highly enjoyable travelogue. Frequent fliers and armchair travelers alike will relish Mack’s account.
— Katie Noah Gibson - Shelf Awareness
A smart, funny meditation on the nature of American empire, Mack’s book has its poignant moments too, as he asks difficult questions about statehood and American identity.
— Jodie Vinson - The Longitude Blog
Rollicking.… Mack peppers the account of his 30,000-mile trip with liberal doses of history.
— Poornima Apte - Flung magazine
Funny, fascinating, and eye-opening in all the best ways.
— Glenn Dallas - Manhattan Book Review
With an eye for irony and amusing detail, [Mack’s] travelogue is often hilarious yet inevitably thoughtful.
— David Luhrssen - Shepherd Express
Doug Mack, a connoisseur of the offbeat, turns his keen eye to the USA’s forgotten lands, and the result is the Great American Road Trip with a twist. Funny and engaging, Mack is the perfect guide to these simultaneously strange and familiar places, and the book goes to the heart of a perennial and, these days, urgent question: What does it mean to be American?
— Eric Weiner, author of The Geography of Genius
Having ventured 30,000 miles to visit U.S. territories around the world, Doug Mack has embarked on one of the most extraordinary ‘American’ journeys of all time. Hilarious and moving, Mack also tackles serious issues—from the history of slavery in the U.S. Virgin Islands to the role of Guam in World War II to the battles over the sweatshops of Saipan—all while exploring how these not-quite states came to be part of America. This book, quite simply, is travel writing at its finest.
— Andrew Carroll, best-selling author of War Letters and Here Is Where: Discovering America’s Great Forgotten History
Our fellow Americans living in territories may not have senators or members of Congress to represent them. But they do have Doug Mack’s terrific book to reintroduce us to their unique histories and cultures and to point out just how connected we all really are to the people in these seemingly far-flung places. A fun and fascinating adventure.
— Brady Carlson, author of Dead Presidents
