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A stunning, thought-provoking exploration of how maps shape our understanding of the world—featuring over 150 full-color maps in a gorgeous package
Maps in the data age are ubiquitous. In an instant, places, social networks, even the human genome can be drawn up in exacting detail. Yet the ease and speed with which we can graph data perpetuates the same problem that has been around for centuries: over-simplified maps that are used as tools for top-down control.
Cartographer and historian William Rankin argues that it’s time to reimagine what a map can be and how it can be used. It’s important to recognize that rather than being objective visualizations of facts, maps are innately political, defining what is worth noticing, drawing borders, and crafting conclusions about the ground they cover. And the consequences are enormous. The visual argument of a map can change how cities are designed and how rivers flow, how wars are fought and how land claims are settled, how children learn about race and how colonialism becomes a habit of mind. Maps don’t just show us data—they help construct our world.
Brimming with vibrant maps, including many “radical” maps created by Rankin himself and by other mapmakers,
List of contents
Introduction
Chapter One
Boundaries
Chapter Two
Layers
Chapter Three
People
Chapter Four
Projections
Chapter Five
Color
Chapter Six
Scale
Chapter Seven
Time
Conclusion
The Values of Cartography
Acknowledgments
Notes
Image Credits
Index
About the author
William Rankin
Summary
“This is it: the full download from a true genius of cartography. Radical Cartography will make you see maps, and, indeed, your place on the planet, with fresh eyes.”—Daniel Immerwahr, author of How to Hide an Empire.
A stunning, thought-provoking exploration of how maps shape our understanding of the world—featuring over 150 full-color maps in a gorgeous package
Maps are ubiquitous in contemporary life—not just for navigation, but for making sense of our society, our environment, and even ourselves. In an instant, huge datasets can be plotted on command and we can explore faraway places in exacting detail. Yet the new ease and speed of data mapping can often lead to the same results as ever: over-simplified maps used as tools for top-down control.
Cartographer and historian William Rankin argues that it’s time to reimagine what a map can be and how it can be used. Maps are not neutral visualizations of facts. They are innately political, defining how the world is divided, what becomes visible and what stays hidden, and whose voices are heard. What matters isn’t just the topics or the data, but how maps make arguments about how the world works. And the consequences are enormous. A map’s visual argument can change how cities are designed and how rivers flow, how wars are fought and how land claims are settled, how children learn about race and how colonialism becomes a habit of mind. Maps don’t just show us information—they help construct our world.
Brimming with vibrant maps, including many “radical” maps created by Rankin himself and by other cutting-edge mapmakers, Radical Cartography exposes the consequences of how maps represent boundaries, layers, people, projections, color, scale, and time. Challenging the map as a tool of the status quo, Rankin empowers readers to embrace three unexpected values for the future of cartography: uncertainty, multiplicity, and subjectivity. Changing the tools—changing the maps—can change the questions we ask, the answers we accept, and the world we build.
