50 Maps That Can’t Explain the World
A Cartographic Tour from Ptolemy to Trump
50 Maps That Can’t Explain the World
A Cartographic Tour from Ptolemy to Trump
An eye-opening journey through fifty maps that ask what, exactly, the people who made our world were thinking, and what that says about our past and future.
Everyone loves a good map. As writer Nicholas Danforth is keen to remind us, maps tell stories about the world and its history—but not always the ones their makers intend. In 50 Maps That Can’t Explain the World, Danforth gives us a whirlwind tour of a wide variety of maps, illustrating what they can—and can’t—teach us about the world.
Witty and irreverent, the pieces take on many cartographic topics of current political interest, including Russian imperialism, the misunderstood appeal of Greenland, and where Canada came from. Others concern mapmaking itself, exploring why north is “up” and how to map time. In doing so, these pieces show that places as varied as Khiva, Atlantis, and even Arkansas matter for addressing big questions, including the best way to draw borders or the future of America’s foreign policy. Featuring a wide array of unique and forgotten maps, all these pieces regale readers with their interesting tales, such as how the Near East became the Middle East or what the US would look like if it lost World War I.
Throughout, Danforth’s entertaining, thoughtful commentary reveals that while maps may not solve all the world’s woes, they can show us where we’ve been and point us to where we’re trying to go.
Table of Contents
Introduction
I. Orientations
1. Why North Is Up
2. A Simpler World
3. Red Sea Redux
4. Mapping the Future
5. Mapping the Map
6. Nostalgia for the Nonexistent
7. Off the Map
II. Origin Stories
8. Temple of Time
9. British Empire Edition
10. What the Hell Were the Wettin Lands
11. Inverse America
12. Grasping for Greenland
13. Where Did the Near East Go?
14. In Search of the Enigmatic Spaniard
15. The Rise and Fall of the Mediterranean Powers
III. Explorations and Adventures
16. Too New Guinea
17. Hubris Over Ice
18. A Ride to Khiva
19. The Empire of Atlantis
20. Down the Rabbit Hole to Hollow Earth
21. Misadventurers from Maine
IV. Americans at Home, Americans Abroad
22. Overhead in Omaha
23. Bivalve Bandits
24. Whale Charts of the World
25. Canadian Temptations
26. The Eagle Spreads His Wings
27. Schlitz Goes to War
28. Occupied America
29. The Axis in Arkansas
30. American Extravaganza
V. Drawing Borders, Building Worlds
31. In Search of the Civilizational State
32. Cashing In on the Clash
33. Middle East Food Maps
34. Crownfall
35. In Search of Europe’s Real Borders
36. The Saar Returns
37. Maduro Mapmas
VI. Geopolitics Returns
38. The End of History and the Last Map
39. Revisiting the Russian Bear
40. Where Did the Cold War Go?
41. Oppenheimer Map Scandal Exposed
42. Octo-Communist Extravaganza
43. Playing 3D Backgammon with Putin
44. The Tragedy of Tragedy
45. Arrogance and Anxiety
VII. America Unhinged
46. The Cartography of Grievance
47. Greenland Revisited
48. 54° 40’ or For F***’s Sake Can We Stop Talking About Annexing Canada
49. Trouble in the Technate
50. Who Killed the Liberal International Order
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Sources
Index