Drawing the Line: Tales of Maps and Cartocontroversy

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.

This book is an extension of Monmonier’s earlier book, How to Lie with Maps. As powerful tools of persuasion in science and public affairs, maps have had a remarkable effect on our view of the world, our health, and the impact of our votes.

Drawing the Line is an intriguing dissection of how maps, with their pictorial clarity and aura of scientific objectivity, have exerted the power to persuade—and often mislead. Maps have a deceptively simple appearance, partly because the need for readability requires cartographers to limit content, partly because mapmakers may be reflecting their own biases.