An Evolving Landscape
Wie schaffen es die beiden Endfünfziger Marianne Winter und Peter Wacker, mit dem Fahrrad 9000 Kilometer durch Europa zu radeln? Immer entlang des ehemaligen Eisernen Vorhangs. In ihrem Buch "Iron Curtain Trail" erzählen sie ni...
"Editors Mazine Lurie and Peter Wacker have put together a beautiful book of historic and current maps that cover every aspect of our state and its people. Their colorful maps with clear descriptions depict everything from the soils that make up the land to the location of Utopian communities."-- (11/06/2009) "Editors Maxine N. Lurie and Peter O. Wacker and cartographer Michael Siegel have created a fascinating, multifarious portrait of a state that hasn't stood still since European settlers began trading with the Tappan, Hackensack, Raritan, Navasink, Sankhikan, Remkokes, Momakarongk, Sewapois, and other Lenape bands. Famously diverse in population New Jersey is equally various in geology, weather, and soil--in fact we've got 27 kinds. See page 21 for which type is under our feet right now."-- (12/01/2009) "As a life-long resident, I am a big fan of New Jersey history, and can't get enough of it. If you are like me, you'll love this big, coffee-table-sized book."-- (12/01/2009) "Visually stunning. Siegel's creations for Mapping New Jersey show everything from state wetlands, forests, farmland and major rivers to railroads in 1860, Cold War missile sites, median home values and the number of languages (186) spoken in New Jersey schools."-- (12/27/2009) "More than you could ever imagine about the Garden State is there for viewing in lush, full color maps, including farmland from the Civil War, population density and ethnicity, religious affiliations, forests, colleges, area codes, radon, rivers and reservoirs--even the railroads of 1860."--New Jersey Savvy Living (12/01/2009) "This large-format interpretive atlas documents cartographically and graphically New Jersey's transformation from Garden State to industrial powerhouse to densely populated suburban refuge. The atlas, comprehensive in coverage, takes a topical approach to the organization of space across the state, beginning with the physical environment and land use and including demographic characteristics, economic geography, and political division and subdivision. The section on transportation is especially well done. Cartography ranges from reproduction of maps from the period of European discovery and early land ownership maps through sophisticated digital maps produced specifically for this atlas. Consistent with the topical approach, one can constructively juxtapose, for instance, geological maps with highway maps, maps of agriculture, or maps of hazardous waste sites; maps of race and ethnicity with maps of electoral behavior or tourism; or transportation maps with maps of mining and industry or suburban development. All may lead readers to develop new hypotheses of spatial interrelationships in New Jersey's continuously evolving human geography. Overall, the editors have compiled and produced a beautiful collection that readers at all levels should find interesting and useful. Highly recommended."-- (07/01/2010) "Mapping New Jersey is not just a book filled with pretty maps. It's a comprehensive, interpretive atlas of the state, tracing changes in environment, land-use patterns, demography, transportation, economy and politics over the course of many centuries. This is a terrific book for any map lover, any reader interested in our state and collectors of odd bits of information. Mapping New Jersey is a perfect gift."-- (07/16/2010) "Mapping New Jersey is packed with information. This book brings it all together in one place, making sense of a remarkably complicated place and its history. Five stars: Excellent in scholarship, writing style, and graphic/typography. "-- (03/01/2010) "Move over, 'Jersey Shore.' The real New Jersey comes in the form of an atlas called Mapping New Jersey. Sure, books don't come with the instant gratification mastered by MTV, but Mapping New Jersey'sheds light on fascinating facts you probably didn't know about the small but complex Garden State."
MAXINE N. LURIE is a professor of history at Seton Hall University. She is the author of a number of articles and book chapters primarily on early American and New Jersey history, the editor of A New Jersey Anthology, and the coeditor of the Encyclopedia of New Jersey (both Rutgers University Press). PETER O. WACKER, professor emeritus of geography at Rutgers University, is the author of The Musconetcong Valley of New Jersey: A Historical Geography; Land and People: A Cultural Geography of Preindustrial New Jersey Origins and Settlement Patterns; and the coauthor of Land Use in Early New Jersey: A Historical Geography (Rutgers University Press). MICHAEL SIEGEL is the staff cartographer and teacher in the Rutgers University geography department.