A History of America in 100 Maps

A History of America in 100 Maps by Susan Schulten is a visual tour of the American past through cartography. This digital PDF edition offers instant download access to a 273-page volume published by the University of Chicago Press in 2018. Explore how maps shaped exploration, settlement, warfare, reform, and American identity.

From late fifteenth-century contact to the early twenty-first century, this book spans more than five hundred years of mapmaking. It pairs official documents with ephemeral artifacts, revealing how maps were used to claim territory, defeat enemies, advance causes, and understand the nation.

Book Overview

A History of America in 100 Maps brings together one hundred maps from the British Library and other collections. Susan Schulten, an award-winning historian, introduces each map with context drawn from the era in which it was made. The book is organized into nine chronological chapters, from 1490–1600 through 1962–2001, with an introduction, afterword, endnotes, and index.

Readers will encounter maps made by European explorers, Native American leaders, soldiers, government agencies, and social reformers. Together they show that maps are not neutral records but active arguments shaped by their creators and their times.

What You’ll Discover Inside

• Nine chronological chapters covering contact and discovery, settlement, independence, expansion, industrialization, war, and the modern era.
• Military maps such as the Census Office map of Georgia that General Sherman used during the Civil War.
• Indigenous cartography, including a Cherokee leader’s map drawn to negotiate the deerskin trade in the 1720s.
• Diplomatic artifacts like John Mitchell’s 1755 map, which helped define the boundaries of the United States at the Treaty of Paris.
• Reform-minded maps, including W. E. B. DuBois’s mapping of segregation in The Philadelphia Negro.
• Visually striking works by Richard Edes Harrison and Heinrich Berann that changed how Americans understood geography in the twentieth century.

Why This Book Matters

A History of America in 100 Maps demonstrates that maps are essential historical documents. They capture what people knew, feared, hoped for, and tried to control. Schulten restores a spatial dimension to American history, showing that the past was not only chronological but geographical.

The book also highlights the persuasive power of cartography. Whether used in statecraft, military strategy, or social reform, maps invest information with meaning by translating it into visual form.

Book Details

Device Compatibility

This is a digital download, so there is no physical shipping. You will receive access immediately after purchase. The PDF is compatible with Kindle apps, tablets, desktop computers, mobile devices, and most reading applications.

FAQ

How do I access the book after purchase?
You receive instant download access after checkout. The PDF can be saved to your preferred device immediately.

Is a physical copy shipped?
No. This is a digital download, and no physical copy will be sent.

Which devices are compatible?
The PDF works with Kindle apps, tablets, desktop computers, mobile devices, and most reading apps.

This digital edition is ready for instant download. Begin exploring this visual history of America today.

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