If you’ve ever wondered why the 50 states have the shapes they do, this audiobook’s for you. In a light, accessible style, Mark Stein unpacks the mysteries state by state, line by line. Why are some states boringly square, and others, like Texas and California, truly “outsized.” How can Maryland possibly be – is that even a shape? HOW THE STATES GOT THEIR SHAPES is packed with fun oddities and trivia, but you’ll also encounter the major fault lines of American history through the fresh lens of geographic disputes, military skirmishes, and land grabs

This offbeat slice of American history places the story of our great republic beneath an unexpected lens: that of fringe candidates for president of the United States. Mark Stein explores how their quest for our nation’s highest office helped to amplify voices otherwise quashed during their day. His careening tour through elections past includes the efforts of true pioneers in the quest for social equality in our country: the first woman to run for president, Victoria Woodhull in 1872; the first African American to run for president, George E. Taylor, in 1904; and the first openly gay cross-dressing candidate for president, Joan Jett Blakk in 1992.

But The Presidential Fringe also takes a look at those who would jest their way into the Oval Office, from comedians such as Will Rogers and Gracie Allen to Pat Paulsen and Stephen Colbert. Along the way, Stein shows how even seemingly zany candidates, such as “Live Forever” Jones, Vegetarian Party candidate John Maxwell, Flying Saucer Party candidate Gabriel Green, or most recently, Vermin Supreme, provide extraordinary insights of clarity into who we were when they ran for president and how we became who we are today. Ultimately, Stein’s examination reveals that it was often precisely these fringe candidates who planted the seeds from which mainstream candidates later harvested genuine, positive change.

Written in Stein’s direct and witty style, The Presidential Fringe surveys and portrays an American landscape rife with the unlikely, unassuming, unexpected, and (in a few cases) unbalanced presidential hopefuls who, in their own way, have contributed to this nation’s founding quest to form a more perfect Union.

From the illegality of bowling in colonial America to violent video games and synthetic drugs, Vice Capades by bestselling author Mark Stein examines the nation’s relationship with the actions, attitudes, and antics that have defined morality. This comprehensive, yet humorous, history reveals that our views of vice are not merely formed by morals but by power. By viewing a variety of vices across the span of American history, Vice Capades brings into focus the nation’s inconsistent moral compass and helps us understand shifts in laws to combat vice by revealing who and what wields power (often invisibly) in the United States. While laws against such things as nude dancing have become less restrictive, restrictive laws have been enacted against sexual harassment. While marijuana is no longer illegal in numerous jurisdictions, restrictive laws have been enacted against cigarettes. Stein examines how this nation’s inconsistent moral compass has consistently pointed to every era’s powers-that-be and enables us to view shifts in the power structure taking place before the public became aware of particular laws against vice and who determines what is or is not deemed vice.