Fifty of our finest novelists, journalists, and essayists write about our fifty states in a book the New York Times Book Review calls “a funny, moving, rousing collection, greater than the sum of its excellent parts, a convention of literary superdelegates, each one boisterously nominating his or her piece of the Republic.”

Blue States, Red States, Purple States: One of the lessons learned from the watershed election of 2008 is that the map of America—who we are, how we live, and what we believe—state by state—has clearly shifted. Inspired by the legendary WPA American Guide series of the 1930s and ’40s (which hired six thousand starving writers and dispatched them around the country), this beautifully crafted book brings together fifty of our foremost authors, each sharing an original piece of reportage and memoir.

The all-star lineup:

Alabama by George Packer * Alaska by Paul Greenberg * Arizona by Lydia Millet * Arkansas by Kevin Brockmeier * California by William T. Vollmann * Colorado by Benjamin Kunkel  * Connecticut by Rick Moody * Delaware by Craig Taylor * Florida by Joshua Ferris * Georgia by Ha Jin * Hawaii by Tara Bray Smith * Idaho by Anthony Doerr * Illinois by Dave Eggers * Indiana by Susan Choi * Iowa by Dagoberto Gilb * Kansas by Jim Lewis * Kentucky by John Jeremiah Sullivan * Louisiana by Joshua Clark * Maine by Heidi Julavits * Maryland by Myla Goldberg * Massachusetts by John Hodgman * Michigan by Mohammed Naseehu Ali * Minnesota by Philip Connors * Mississippi by Barry Hannah * Missouri by Jacki Lyden * Montana by Sarah Vowell * Nebraska by Alexander Payne * Nevada by Charles Bock * New Hampshire by Will Blythe * New Jersey by Anthony Bourdain * New Mexico by Ellery Washington * New York by Jonathan Franzen * North Carolina by Randall Kenan * North Dakota by Louise Erdrich * Ohio by Susan Orlean * Oklahoma by S. E. Hinton * Oregon by Joe Sacco * Pennsylvania by Andrea Lee * Rhode Island by Jhumpa Lahiri * South Carolina by Jack Hitt * South Dakota by Saïd Sayrafiezadeh * Tennessee by Ann Patchett * Texas by Cristina Henríquez * Utah by David Rakoff * Vermont by Alison Bechdel * Virginia by Tony Horwitz * Washington by Carrie Brownstein * West Virginia by Jayne Anne Phillips * Wisconsin by Daphne Beal * Wyoming by Alexandra Fuller

. . . And an afterword on Washington, D.C.: A Conversation with Edward P. Jones

Coeditor Matt Weiland explains in his introduction: “To everyone we said: Tell us a story about your state, the more personal the better, something that captures the essence of the place.” At turns poignant and funny, and always eye-opening and insightful, the fifty writers Weiland and Sean Wilsey selected tell us something lasting and revealing about each state. Dave Eggers’s riff on the Illinois license-plate slogan is a literary standout; Sarah Vowell proffers an inimitable history lesson on how Montanans “have always tended to stick out”; and Alison Bechdel’s luminous strip on Vermont tells of love, loss, liberty—and lax dress codes.

With an array of revealing facts and figures comparing the fifty states in a range of intriguing measures (the median age of folks in North Carolina is 35.3; Alaska is a few years younger), State by State is a dazzling armchair road trip across the land that offers a vibrant state-of-the-union map of America.

Praise for State by State

"This eclectic collection of essays describing the ordinary people and places within our 50 states is as essential as the Rand McNally atlas....Alternately brash and bashful...each literary foray in State by State is well worth the trip. (Grade: A)" Entertainment Weekly

"In its personalized way, State by State is an antidote to the oversimplifying red state/blue state rubric....Odds are, reading State by State, that you'll fall for every state a little." Los Angeles Times

"The WPA state guides of the 1930s were intended to 'describe America to Americans' and inspired this wonderful collection of original pieces by 50 writers on the 50 states. No usual suspects here, no sloppy nostalgia....Take this book to the road." Chicago Tribune

"An intriguing literary collage of personal histories, observations and explorations....[T]he one defining theme of State by State is that, despite the big box stores, the endless stretches of chain restaurants and fast food joints and the dumbing down of culture, the country retains its stubborn, often vibrant tendency toward individuality." Pittsburgh Tribune

"Readers with an interest in the endless variety of attitudes, lifestyles, viewpoints, and experiences to be found across America will enjoy this work." Library Journal

"This ambitious effort features a terrific roster of writers and arrives just in time for the November elections." Kirkus Reviews

"This fascinating collection, inspired by WPA guides in the 1930s and 1940s, includes original essays on each of the states by some of the country's finest (mostly younger) writers." Seattle Post-Intelligencer

"An interesting read....The book is touted as having some wonderful surprises. Indeed, it does." The Oklahoman

"A funny, moving, rousing collection, greater than the sum of its excellent parts, a convention of literary super­delegates." J.R. Moehringer, New York Times Book Review

Matt Weiland has been an editor at the Paris Review, Granta, the Baffler, and the New Press, and he oversaw a documentary radio unit at NPR. His writing has appeared in the New York Times Book Review, New York Observer, the Nation, and the New Republic. He is the coeditor, with Sean Wilsey, of The Thinking Fan's Guide to the World Cup and State by State and, with Thomas Frank, of Commodify Your Dissent: The Business of Culture in the New Gilded Age.

Sean Wilsey is the author of Oh the Glory of It All, a memoir, and the creator, with Tamara Shopsin, of a related Web site, ohtheglory.com. He is also an editor-at-large for McSweeney's, and the coeditor, with Matt Weiland, of State by State and The Thinking Fan's Guide to the World Cup.