Ward L. Kaiser

March 5th 2012 marks the 500th birthday of map-maker Gerhard Kremer, aka Mercator. There are many wishing the Flemish map maker well! From blogs to books the man who has shaped for many our world view is celebrated as often as vilified.Four centuries later, Arno Peters created what many see as a fair view of our world, but others see as a distorted or misleading map! Across the centuries it is maps that link these men and their impact on current human activity.This landmark book - How Maps Change Things: A Conversation About the Maps We Choose and the World We Want - looks at maps by these two men and others. This examination goes beyond maps as nouns, as tactile objects that show locations and distances. "Maps are verbs ... don't be fooled" we are told at the outset of How Maps Change Things. The book examines maps as change agents, reflecting intentions and setting agendas, stating who has what, and who has not. What are the messages sent by maps? What were Mercator, Peters and other map makers setting out to do with each of their creations?Ward Kaiser, author, publisher, pastor, and historian was instrumental in bringing the Peters Equal Area Map to North America. He has been leading the discussion of what maps mean and the power of maps in framing human activities.In How Maps Change Things Kaiser takes a passionate view of how maps illustrate and influence the significant paths humans pursue. Rather than looking for definitive answers, Kaiser focuses on asking thought-provoking questions. "What does our world, through the view of maps, really look like and what does the perspective (or frame of reference or bias) of the viewer mean to the map and its view? Are all maps simply propaganda for the hidden agenda of the map-maker? What is the world we get and what is the world we want ... and who cares and why?"Kaiser has stimulated an impressive and important conversation.

How Maps Change Things

Denis Wood

Bob Abramms

This book explains the principles behind the Peters' Projection Map and a dozen other unique maps and provocative images. Features over 70 maps and illustrations, including a redrawing of Mercator's original world map (unavailable since the 1950s), Minard's map of Napoleon's march on Moscow and routes of African Slave Trading.

Many Ways to See the World

Seeing Through Maps

This full-colour book is about politics and faith and the values we hold. It's about human relations, social justice, peace, budgets, and environmental concerns. It's about that "Aha!" moment when we realize that maps are loaded not just with data, but with meaning, with the map maker's perceptions and prejudices about what's important and what's not. Ultimately, this book is about becoming aware of how we shape and use maps and how they in turn shape us, so that we can begin to reflect on and choose the kind of world we want. The book includes an experiential Study Guide perfect for use by adult and youth study groups of all kinds. Author Ward Kaiser brings to this book broad experience as a publisher, business and ecumenical executive, pastor, teacher, and community organizer. He introduced the Peters Projection world map to North America, publishing its first English-language version in 1983. His handbook to that map, A New View of the World, is widely used by high school and college teachers, mission educators, and social activists. He and his wife, Lorraine, divide their time between central Florida and the Niagara Peninsula of Ontario, Canada.

A Conversation about the Maps We Choose and the World We Want

Synopsis: Maps become a means of seeing the world from many perspectives in this appealing guide, which is aimed at training readers to look at images with a critical eye. The authors (a social scientist and a pastor/community organizer) challenge readers to stretch their intellectual boundaries while they wrap their minds around demonstrations of the many ways of making maps and the truth that no way is "the right one." A final chapter provides a guide to using map projections in human resource development and adult education. It's a smart book but not a beautiful one-many of the illustrations went muddy in the transfer from color to b&w, and seven unlovely pages of the publisher's advertising precede the index. Wide format: 11x8.5.

Ward L. Kaiser

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