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Measuring America : how an untamed wilderness shaped the United States and fulfilled the promise of democracy / Andro Linklater.
Athenaeum of Philadelphia - Circulating Collection E161.3 .L46 2002
Available
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Linklater, Andro.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Surveyors.
- History.
- Surveying.
- Geography.
- United States--Geography.
- United States.
- United States--Surveys--History.
- Surveys.
- United States--Territorial expansion.
- Territorial expansion.
- National characteristics, American.
- Public lands--United States--History.
- Public lands.
- Frontier and pioneer life--United States.
- Frontier and pioneer life.
- Ohio River Valley--Geography.
- Ohio River Valley.
- Ohio River Valley--Surveys--History.
- Surveying--United States--History.
- Surveyors--United States--History.
- Genre:
- Surveys.
- Physical Description:
- 310 pages : illustrations, maps ; 22 cm
- Place of Publication:
- New York : Walker & Co., 2002.
- Summary:
- Linklater's fascinating, provocative and eye-opening story of why America has ended up with its unique system of weights and measures, is explained in this volume that also shows how it has shaped the culture and country. 30 illustrations. 5 maps.
- Contents:
- The invention of landed property
- Precise confusion
- Who owned America?
- Life, liberty, or what?
- Simple arithmetic
- A line drawn in the wilderness
- The French dimension
- Democratic decimals
- The birth of the metric system
- Dombey's luck
- The end of Putnam
- The immaculate grid
- The shape of cities
- Hassler's passion
- The dispossessed
- The limit of enclosure
- Four against ten
- Metric triumphant
- The witness tree.
- Notes:
- Book design by Ralph Fowler.
- Jacket design by Jan Glinski.
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 289-292) and index.
- Local Notes:
- Athenaeum circulating copy: From the Library of Aaron V. Wunsch.
- ISBN:
- 0802713963 :
- OCLC:
- 50143791
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