Misrepresenting maps

"NO MAP is a throuoghly objective value-neutral device for describing distances and locations", says Mark Monmonier in his book, Drawing the Line: Tales of Maps and Cartocontroveresy. There is an aura of authority over maps that even scholars are reluctant to question. But this book gathers several case studies of the ways in which maps can misrepresent or deceive. It also examines how government bureaucracies fuzz over difficulties attendant to touchy matters such as toxic waste disposal, wetland development and emergency evacuations.