“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.
