Drawing the Line

Lively and well-written book tells story of how maps persuade and influence through history

Mark Monmonier is a distinguished professor of geography at Maxwell College of Syracuse University. He has spent years exploring maps and how they communicate, inform, and influence. Maps can be charged with many messages-hope, bias, menace, the list can be extended.

In Drawing the Line:Tales of Maps and Cartocontroversy, Monmonier takes on a variety of topics, throwing a bit of rational thought on some charged subjects.

A good example is the so-called “Peters Projection” world map. This was rolled out by Dr. Arno Peters in 1967 as a response to perceived weaknesses in the widely used Mercator map. One thing it purported to solve was a skewed view of the world brought on by the extreme distortion of the upper latitudes (Greenland appears many times larger than it ought, for instance). Another thing it aimed to correct was a “eurocentric” social bias: by enlarging the middle latitudes, it displayed many third-world countries in a more advantageous aspect than the Mercator did.

Monmonier logically and entertainingly explores the Peters imbroglio. The map, seen by many to counteract what is seen as an unjust dominance of the Third World by the First, is driven just as much by activism and personal politics of those who it appeals to just as much as any desire for flat-map accuracy. There are many dogs in this fight, detractors and advocates, and the argument continues to this day. Monmonier proves an able and illuminating guide.

The same critical light is thrown on such subjects as The Vinland Map (a map reputed to have been drawn about 1440, predating Columbus), cultural perceptions through place names on maps, the acceptance of plate tectonics, and political campaigns.

Monmonier is a great writer with an entertaining sense of style, who guides the reader through this Terra Incognita with wit and grace. Drawing the Line is a valuable book for anyone who is interested in critical thought, truth in communication, and, of course, maps.

Drawing the Line: Tales of Maps and Cartocontroversy
by Mark Monmonier
1995, Henry Holt, 368pp (with notes and index)
ISBN 0-8050-2581-2
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