Drawing the Line: Tales of Maps and Cartocontroversy

by Mark Monmonier

Argues that maps can be manipulated to distort the truth, and shows how they have been used for propaganda in international affairs, political districting, and finding toxic dump sites

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Maps, Geography, Cartography, Science

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Mark Stephen Monmonier is an American author and a Distinguished Professor of Geography at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University.

He specializes in toponymy, geography, and geographic information systems. His popular written works show a combination of serious study and a sense of humor. His most famous work is How To Lie With Maps (1991), in which he challenges the common belief that maps inherently show an unbiased truth.

Reviews

[Fraser Sherman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author is a geography professor whose point in writing the book is that we see maps as capturing an objective reality — they're right there, before our eyes — but they're often shaped by the agendas, beliefs and assumptions of the cartographer. Late 1800s historical maps of the US, for instance, showed the 13 colonies against an empty wilderness — no sign native tribes were ever there. An old boundary map may have little in common with the modern reality as trees die, hills wear away and rivers change course. The way an environmental-hazards map visualizes nuclear danger from a power plant may distort our perception risk (or our safety). Landscape features that used to be "n-word" hill or lake have been renamed for obvious reasons. A good book about an interesting subject.

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book for anyone who is an enthusiast of maps (online or on paper) as author Mark Monmonier takes you through a journey across time and 2-D space where there have been major disagreements, blatant (or initially unintended) offenses, outright confusion, substantial economic and political gains & losses, and even tragic loss of life surrounding the use of maps. Some of these problems were caused by maps, and some were solved by maps. And we today are not immune to any of these problems; In fact, despite the fact that this book was first published in 1995, the last chapter on risk maps and environmental hazards touches upon the core of problem of the time we live in: "Mapping is an important but unheralded tool of epidemiologists, public health authorities, and other scientists and officials committed to understanding and preventing disease." HOW RELEVANT THIS IS RIGHT NOW during the Covid-19 pandemic. This is just one of the ways in which the many learnings in this book stand the test of time. If the author were to write a new book, it would be really fascinating to see what he would share about the role of maps, misinformation, and this pandemic, as we today consume most of our information online. The article below from the New York Times isn't quite that, but does hint at the dangers we live in during the 3rd decade of the current millennium, as there is a de facto digital cartographic monopoly: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/26/op...

The truth of the matter is, maps are a form of abstraction about the world we live in, created by humans. The problems were also created by humans. For humans to use maps responsibly, we must have a deep sense of curiosity. This book scratches that itch.

[Jose Barreda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Monmonier's book explores the complex relationship we have with maps, often perceived as sources of objective information but frequently serving as tools of political propaganda or instruments in cultural narrative wars. Despite being written nearly 30 years ago, its core arguments remain profoundly relevant today, as exemplified by the case of the Gulf of Mexico versus the Gulf of America.