How America got on the map
DC
"THE FOURTH PART OF THE WORLD - The Race to the Ends of the
Earth, and the Epic Story of the Map That Gave America Its
Name" by Toby Lester (Amazon.com: http://xrl.us/FourthP )
Six years ago Toby Lester, a contributing editor to
Atlantic Monthly, spotted an announcement that the Library
of Congress had just spent $10 million for the 1507 map
that experts believe was the first to affix the name
"America" to the New World. What, Lester wondered, could
possibly make a map worth that much money? Value,
obviously, is relative, and Lester never does answer the
question that launched his rumination on exploration and
European cartography, "The Fourth Part of the World." But
no matter. His real interest lies in the evolution of
Europeans' perception of the world, as reflected by their
maps. It's an unusual approach, and it works splendidly...
Continued: http://xrl.us/FPart