Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • BOOK REVIEW

How the grid came to shape the US landscape

Science and reason underpinned early surveys, but sociopolitical ideals left their mark on the nation too, a historical account concludes.
By
  1. K. John Holmes

    1. K. John Holmes is the senior board director and scholar at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine in Washington DC.

Aerial shot with houses, river and land parcels of Washington DC

Regular blocks such as these in Washington DC were thought by early leaders to imbue ideas of equality, freedom and prosperity. Credit: Getty

Liberty’s Grid: A Founding Father, a Mathematical Dreamland, and the Shaping of America Amir Alexander Univ. Chicago Press (2024)

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 630, 810-812 (2024)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-02083-4

Competing Interests

The author declares no competing interests.

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links