Power Lines Maps That Shaped the Way We See the World

A collection of the greatest political maps in history and how these images have an unmatched power to influence our thinking—and our world. 

In a world where Google Maps has largely taken over utilitarian functions like finding destinations and providing directions, printed maps still stir our imaginations. In this book, award-winning journalist Peter Keating assembles nearly 100 of the most impactful examples in history, across continents and centuries. There is the map featuring the Treaty of Tordesillas meridian, which Pope Alexander VI used to divide the whole of the western hemisphere between Spanish and Portuguese explorers in 1494. Maps from the Cold War, showing Communist threats closing in on the US from all sides. And even a map outlining the territories under gang control in Chicago in the midst of Prohibition. Accompanying each of these incredible pieces of art-cum-propaganda, Keating reveals the compelling stories of how they came to be, what they were up to, and why they still matter today.

This richly illustrated and deeply informative book will demonstrate the power maps have to shape how we see the world—and will be the perfect gift for politicos, history buffs, and map lovers alike.

 

Peter Keating is a narrative journalist whose wide-ranging stories about politics, history and finance have been featured in publications such as GQ, Mother Jones, National Geographic and Politico. He has written four national columns, including “Numbers” for ESPN, where he was part of teams that won three National Magazine Awards. He was a founding member of ESPN’s Investigative Unit, where his longform projects included pieces that exposed for the first time how the NFL dealt with brain injuries. Keating has co-hosted the Underdogs podcast since 2022, and is the author of Dingers! A Short History of the Long Ball, a biography of the home run. He lives in Montclair, New Jersey, with his wife, Karen, their daughters, Ellie and Samantha, and their dog, Otis. Follow him on Twitter at @PeterKeatingNJ.

1. The Maps that Centered Christianity for a Millennium
2. The Family Map that Built a Nation
3. The Political Maps that Get Stuck to Envelopes
4. Maps of the Country Most Often Erased from World Atlases 
5. The Roadmaps to the Civil War
6. The Half-Serious Map that Launched a Thousand Octopus
7. The Map that Put the United States at the Center of the World…
8. Maps of a Would-Be Pacific Empire
9. Maps of Worldwide War Gone Cold
10. The Map that Got Barbie Banned—and Could Start World War III
Afterword