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Maps: Finding Our Place in the World. Edited by James R Akerman and Robert W Karrow Jr Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007, 400 pp, $55.00 (hardback) ISBN 978-0-226-01075-5
This attractive book, which includes a fascinating range of full-colour maps, has been published as a companion to the recent exhibition of the same name organised jointly by the Newberry Library and The Field Museum in Chicago. The edited collection includes an informative introduction (by the two editors) and seven chapters designed to reflect the themes of the exhibition: 'Finding our way' (Akerman, chapter 1); 'Mapping the world' (Denis Cosgrove, chapter 2); 'Mapping parts of the world' (Matthew H. Edney, chapter 3); 'Mapping American history' (Susan Schulten, chapter 4); 'Visualising nature and society' (Michael Friendly and Cilles Ralsky, chapter 5); 'Mapping imaginary worlds' (Ricardo Padrón, chapter 6); and 'Consuming maps' (Diane Dillon, chapter 7). As explained in the introduction, the book aims not to be a history of cartography, but an 'introduction to maps and to their history' (p. 2): an aim which, in my view, has been realised.
The book takes a refreshing thematic approach to looking at maps, avoiding a dry chronological account of mapping history. The format and writing style is approachable, while underpinned by scholarly knowledge, and will appeal to a general educated authence. A newcomer to the history of cartography would find the volume an interesting introduction to recent developments in...