Welcome to Litsy!

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"!