In this collection of essays J. B. Harley (1932-1991) draws on ideas in art history, literature, philosophy, and the study of visual culture to subvert the traditional, -positivist- model of cartography, replacing it with one that is grounded in an iconological and semiotic theory of the nature of maps. He defines a map as a -social construction- and argues that maps are not simple representations of reality but exert profound influences upon the way space is conceptualized and organized. A central theme is the way in which power--whether military, political, religious, or...