We all live in the same country, so why do we sound do different? It's a matter of where you are on the map. Why didn't the southern accent exist until after the Civil War? How did California athletes end up coining so many new words?
Did money make our map? Through boom and through bust, the sweet smell of profit has drawn and redrawn our states. How did Green Bay help carve our border with Canada?
Battles over access to lakefront property have made the Great Lakes region the most contested land on the entire map, and even pushed the states to a border war.
What secrets are hiding in our map? What's behind the "blank spots" like Area 51? What possessed the citizens of Key West to throw down their margaritas and secede from Florida?
After three years on the road, host Brian Unger is taking a different look at just how our states got their shapes. We'll hear about the unique American values that have made this country what it is today, and travel from coast to coast.
America's most iconic rivalry was more than just a feud between families. The fight between the Hatfields and McCoys nearly launched a war between two states.
Deep in the Rust Belt the white collar and blue collar divide has shaped our cities and our states. How did this rivalry change the way we all bring home the bacon?
Carnegie hires a hatchet man, Henry Frick, to help him achieve his goal of besting Rockefellar. The partnership seems promising, but Carnegie does not know that Frick is running his factories far beyond capacity.
Americans have been racing to tame the West since they first set foot on the continent, but now that the West has been won, what's next? Is the West still the best.
It's a rivalry that tears us apart every four years, but how did our nation divide into red states vs. blue states, and what happens to the states caught in the middle?
It's America's original rivalry, a divide that was so wide it took a war to close the gap. But have we really reunited, or are we still fighting a culture war?
We're the United States, but sometimes, it's every state for itself. Nearly every state has pulled a power play that gamed the system and changed the map. How much can you get away with when it's state vs. state?
Does size matter when you're a state? While the giants like to throw their weight around, there are some scrappy underdogs that have made their mark on the map.
The history of transportation is hidden in the lines of the map. From canals to trains and cars, how did getting around help draw the American map? Could Chicago have been in Wisconsin? Why are states out West or so big and boxy?
How did the most rebellious states took shape? How did they earn their outsized features and outspoken reputations. For instance, why does Montana looks like it took a bite out of Idaho? Why wasn't Texas broken up into five states?
In the battle between city and country, it looks like the city is coming out ahead in population, but is there something about the country that all the city slickers are missing? And how has the move from rural to urban changed the shapes of our states?