You Are Here

October 15, 2016

However many residents a metropolis has is how many versions of the city there are. The eight million-plus New York Cities are here presented in 200 maps that show everything from a plan that would join Governor's Island and Manhattan using landfill to a map of the city made from honeybees. Harmon (You Are Here: Personal Geographies and Other Maps of the Imagination; The Map as Art) features cultural iconography, such as The New Yorker cartoon of the city looming large and the rest of the world clinging to the edges of the illustration, alongside Colonial-era maps and today's satellite and data-driven views. Many photographs make the picks as well, with all entries accompanied by salient and informative captions. Sprinkled throughout are various authors' essays on personal geography and city experiences. VERDICT A wonderful treat for New Yorkers and for lovers of geography- and cartography-inspired looks at life in the past and today. Fans of Harmon's similar but broader previous gems will snap up this new work.--Henrietta Verma, National Information Standards Organization, Baltimore

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.