Books by Mark Monmonier

Fully updated for the digital age, this new edition of How to Lie with Maps examines the myriad ways that technology offers new opportunities for cartographic mischief, deception, and propaganda.

The twentieth century is a pivotal period in map history. Geographic information systems radically altered cartographic institutions and reduced the skill required to create maps. This volume features expert contributors who provide both original research, and interpretations of larger trends in cartography.

Interweaving cartographic history with tales of politics and power, this work is located within the struggles of mapmakers to create an orderly process for naming that avoids confusion, preserves history, and serves different political aims. It reveals the map's role as a mediated portrait of the cultural landscape.

An account of the controversies surrounding Flemish cartographer Gerard Mercator's legacy examines the limitations and uses of Mercator's clever method of portraying the earth on a flat surface while taking into account the earth's actual roundness.

Mark Monmonier looks at the increased use of geographic data, satellite imagery, and location tracking across a wide range of fields. Could these diverse forms of geographic monitoring, he asks, lead to grave consequences for society?

Explains how maps can tell where to anticipate certain hazards, but also how maps can be misleading. The text considers that although it is important to predict and prepare for catastrophic natural hazards, more subtle and persistent phenomena such as pollution and crime also pose serious dangers.

Covering shifting landscapes, cartographic technology, and climate change, this book reveals that coastlines are as much a set of ideas, assumptions, and societal beliefs as they are solid black lines on maps. It charts the historical progression from offshore sketches to satellite images.

Presenting the story of the weather map, this book traces its history; discusses debates among scientists on the enigma of storms and global change; explains strategies for mapping the upper atmosphere and forecasting disaster; and exposes the efforts to detect and control air pollution.

Some maps help us find our way; others restrict where we go and what we do. These maps control behavior, regulating activities from flying to fishing, prohibiting students from one part of town from being schooled on the other, and banishing certain individuals and industries to the periphery. This title tackles this aspect of mapping.