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Number 61, Fall 2008 cartographic perspectives 55 tickets on specific rail lines. Some railroad maps were Our Dumb World: The Onion’s Atlas of The Planet even purposely manipulated to make the routes to the Earth mineral fields look shorter or closer in proximity than Scott Dickers, editor-in-chief. they actually were in order to gain passengers. New York City, Little, Brown and Co., 2007. Railroads also made tourism possible on a much 245 pp., maps with fictitious sites, graphs with grander scale than previously imagined. Yellowstone incorrect statistics, and altered photos. National Park was presented to the public in an imagi- $27.99. Hardbound native 1884 mapping brochure called Alice’s Adventures ISBN-10: 0316018422 in New Wonderland, which shows the Lewis Carroll heroine enjoying the park’s natural splendor. Another Review by Daniel G. Cole tourist publication of the period compared the Colo- Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC rado Rockies with the Swiss Alps. The final entry in Mapping Manifest Destiny: Chicago I must preface this review with the admission that and the American West describes the establishment and I have often felt that most cartographers, including rise of Rand McNally, a name now synonymous with myself, take our work far too seriously. This volume private sector mapping products. William H. Rand puts that notion to rest, starting with the cover where and Andrew McNally came to Chicago in the 1850s. the reader is informed of the dubious enticements to They began as printers and stationers before mov- be found within: 1) fewer clouds on maps; 2) better- ing into map publishing in the 1870s. They devised veiled xenophobia; 3) curvier latitude lines; 4) Bono- a unique system of mass production and a signature awareness rating for each nation; 5) long-standing cartographic style that met a wide variety of consumer border disputes resolved; 6) collectible flexi-disc with needs. Their maps were low in cost, simple in scope “The Smooth Sounds of Cartography”; 7) 30% more and carefully targeted to specific business audiences. Asia; and 8) a free globe inside. I found Mapping Manifest Destiny: Chicago and the With that to greet the reader, we discover, upon American West an absolute delight to read. Each of the opening the atlas, that no credit is given to anyone four main sections of the book is further broken down claiming to be a cartographer or even a mapmaker. into related categories, and each category includes sev- The staff compiling this volume includes editors, eral illustrative maps. The chronological approach to designers, writers, photographers, and graphic artists. each section, as well as to the book overall, provided This group of wise guys has put together a book that a natural flow that thoroughly enhanced my enjoy- tries to make fun of every state, country, race, ethnic ment of its contents. The maps and compendium are group, national leader, cultural practice, sex, religion, skillfully arranged with minimal sequential overlap activist group, animal, and landform. They have also so that the reader is never compelled to go back and designed the maps to help the reader misunderstand forth between sections in order to compare public and our world by playing on stereotypes and warping any private sector approaches or subject matter within the facts to suit their sense of humor. same time period. The quality of the map reproduc- That aside, the first six pages cover topics often seen tions isexcellent throughout, as isthe overall design at the beginning of “normal” atlases: an introduction, and layout of each page, category, and section through a section on “How To Use This Atlas,” and a brief sec- the dispersion of color. It is simultaneously an infor- tion on the principles and history of cartography. The mative and eye-pleasing book. introduction includes what appears to be an antique I would highly recommend this book to anyone map allegedly produced in 1621 and titled “Il Nostro with an interest in cartography, railroads, Chicago, Mondo Stupido,” reputedly still in use by the Bush the American West, history, or exploration. My favor- administration. The how-to section does its best to ite aspect of the book is that it presents the American insult the reader’s intelligence while advising that West not as the legendary home of cowboys, Indians, the atlas should be put back on the bookstore’s book- gunfighters, and outlaws that we’ve seen romanticized shelf. Included in this section is the sage advice to use in the movies and television series of the past few scissors on the atlas pages to resolve border disputes. decades, but as it really was, through the eyes and art The cartography section then informs the reader how of the cartographers who actually experienced it first- boring our discipline is while providing an eclectic hand. Mapping Manifest Destiny: Chicago and the Ameri- sample of thematic world maps, including distribution can West takes the reader on an enlightening journey of wealth and Bono-awareness, the results of the Da- through time and place, with ample stopovers along vidson family Risk night, a map to Erica’s party, and the way for discovery, reflection, or simply enjoying continental drift. This last topic humorously depicts the scenery. the rest of the world drifting away from the U.S. by 2015, which counters the similar image distributed by the AAG with the message, “We are not alone.” 56 cartographic perspectives Number 61, Fall 2008 The body of the atlas is divided into continental Coast states prevented America from expanding sections, plus the Middle East. Strangely, the poles and farther, while the extra states of Alaska, Hawaii, and Greenland are also treated separately but not noted Minnesota seem to exist to be exploited, viewed from a in the table of contents. Related to this oversight, the hotel room, and for no particular reason, respectively. country index at the back of the book lists the North Other countries are treated equally well. Within and South poles with all of the countries, but fails Canada is identified the location in Quebec where a to list Antarctica. Each section starts with a view “French Canadian is ignoring a woman screaming for from space of a “cloudless” satellite composite of the help in English” (24). Two important places to visit/ featured continent. Every country is presented with a avoid in Mexico include the strategic guacamole map filled with points of satirical silliness, a flag ac- reserve in the south and a huge diarrhea slick off the companied by an off-the-wall comment, altered photos west coast. As a banana republic, Guatemala’s map of people and places, and Facts and History sections key is divided into Dole, Del Monte, and Chiquita re- filled with enough politically incorrect pseudo-facts gions. Jamaica’s tourist spots feature a national monu- to keep the reader confused. Before continuing, I must ment to the roach clip along with an archeological site note that the number of four-letter words and sexual where prehistoric traces of THC can be found. graphics used in this atlas will offend some people, South America presents such countries as Argen- and its humor is certainly not appropriate for young tina, which boasts no fewer than six sites associated children. with elderly Nazis. The archipelago in southern Chile As can be expected with a book published in the has an island-making factory. Venezuela’s map key is United States, the North America section is divided coded to five different types of coup, while Peru has into regions of the U.S., followed by the other North a mountain named after former president Fujimori American countries. Our country is described as “the where $57,483,221 was embezzled. Suriname, we are land of opportunism at any cost–even life and liberty,” told, is a country not worth bothering with. and “In America, any millionaire can, through hard African countries are treated to up-beat comments work and determination, exploit others to become on colonialism, wars, racial and ethnic violence, cor- a billionaire” (9). The American history time-line ruption, AIDS, poverty, and starvation. These topics includes comments such as “[in] 1951, hysteria over don’t always work as subjects of humor. Nonetheless, communism spreads across nation. President Truman the reader is presented with countries like Madagas- outlaws sharing”, and then in “1967, The ‘Summer of car, a country supposedly ruled by lemurs, and Equa- Love’ is followed by the ‘Autumn of Chlamydia’” (12). torial Guinea, which has to compete with Ecuador Most of the maps that appear here and elsewhere for equatorial tourism. Toponyms are addressed with in the book appear to be reproductions of isometric the historical citation that “[In] 1964, Zanzibar joins elevation maps with greens for lowlands through buffs Tanganyika to form the United Republic of Tanzania, a to grayish-white for high altitudes, but no legends are name created by a team of Madison Avenue advertis- indicative of that gradient. On closer inspection, the ing consultants to capture both the ‘jungle exotica’ and color gradients are not consistent between maps; for ‘spicy zing’ of the region” (77). This is contrasted with example, countries in the Saharan region all have only the Central African Republic, a nation so generically yellow and buff gradients. Regarding the legends, named to avoid the expense of branding. those that have map keys provide absurd categories, The Middle East brings the reader such countries as for instance, a seven-class map key for the U.S. is Saudi Arabia, where “All Is Forbidden” (117); Yemen, concerned with television viewing. The projections which conducts terrorism’s grunt work; United Arab and scales used in this atlas are all unidentified and Emirates, literally mapped so that its covered in gold; can only be guessed since no graticules are used, much Iraq, which has been going downhill since ancient less ones displaying “curvier latitude lines.” Mesopotamia; and Israel, “The Empty Promised The northeastern region features New York, a state Land” (129) with a map key indicating nothing but that’s clearly an afterthought to New York City since sacred sites.

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