Review
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Title: The Mapmakers of New Zion: A Cartographic History of Mormonism
Author: Richard Francaviglia
Publisher: University of Utah Press
Genre: Cartography, Mormon History
Year Published: 2015
Number of Pages: 272
Binding: hardback
ISBN10: 1607814080
ISBN13: 9781607814085
Price: $34.95
Reviewed by Bryan Buchanan for the Association for Mormon Letters
“I’m the map, I’m the map, I’m the map, I’m the map, I’M THE MAP!!!” (Map from Dora the Explorer) Everyone seems to enjoy a good map. I certainly have throughout my life. Since I was a child, I have been fascinated by attempts to partition, categorize and make sense of our planet. I find historic maps particularly enjoyable—as a student at the University of Utah, I always liked looking at a map hanging in a department office (obviously created from 1958 to 1961 [the map—who knows in what prehistoric era the office was built!]) showing the short-lived United Arab Republic. Maps are themselves history—by looking at the particular configuration of entities created by a cartographer, one can often situate the map within a particular set of historical confines. However, maps represent more than just inanimate data. As professor and historian Richard Francaviglia states in his newest book “The Mapmakers of New Zion: A Cartographic History of Mormonism,” “a map’s design is deeply linked to underlying beliefs and attitudes.” (4) In terms of religious and (more specifically in Francaviglia’s current focus) Mormon studies, this is a key insight. The author mines this vein of interpretation in creative and insightful ways in “Mapmakers”—perhaps to greatest success in the chapter dealing with Book of Mormon studies.
Richard Francaviglia has long been interested in how Mormons and maps have interacted. One of his earliest books was “The Mormon Landscape: Existence, Creation and Perception of a Unique Image in the American West” (published in 1978) which in turn grew out of his 1970 dissertation. The author has clearly polished a very engaging writing style over the ensuing years. As Jan Shipps notes on the dust jacket: “rarely have I so enjoyed reading a scholarly book—or learned so much.” I agree. Along the way, the reader learns about different types of maps—such as a T-O map, in which the major landmasses are intersected by major waterways (the T) and surrounded by the perimeter of the globe (the O)—as well as the importance of orientation (because east—“the orient”—often was the crucial direction, it lent its name to the act of situating the map itself). Many other fascinating tidbits pepper the brief but helpful introduction.
The obligatory chapter discussing Mormon origins doesn’t feel quite so obligatory as it often does because Francaviglia refocuses the analysis in a geographic and cartographic context. For example, he notes that Joseph Smith grew up in an area of New York littered with biblical placenames—one of which, Palmyra, may seem erroneous until one realizes that it (likely) appears in the Bible under its Hebrew name of Tadmor. Throughout the book, one finds little things like this (like the origins of the word “orientation”) that not only spice up the reading but prove helpful in making points. His discussion of the several attempts to create a plot for the city of Zion is also enlightening—he deconstructs every element of the maps, down to the use of color and line thickness. However, it never seems overly detailed or feels like one must slog through the narrative.
After a few chapters dealing with Mormon maps of their journey west and their place, generally speaking, among Western mapmakers, the author launches into what I feel is the most creative and noteworthy section of the book: “‘Journey of Faith’: Mapping the Book of Mormon and Mormon Origins.” Several insightful points emerge:
–“If…the history revealed in the Book of Mormon is not substantiated by archaeological or scientific research, that is quite beside the point. In fact, the Mormon interpretation of history calls on faith rather than material evidence. In this sense, it is more akin to early Jewish claims of the Exodus, which recently came under scientific scrutiny and were found wanting in terms of actual evidence.”
–“Metaphorically, the epic travel account in the Book of Mormon seems to portend the Mormons’ own future as a highly mobile people forced farther and farther into the American frontier wilderness.”
–“What one sees, and hence believes, depends less on reality than on the mindset and experience of the observer, in this case the map reader.” (156-57)
As touched on above, the author thus repeatedly drives home the point that the intentions and motivations behind a map are as worthy of study (though done less frequently) than the physical map itself.
Francaviglia locates early Mormon efforts to chart Book of Mormon locations as an outgrowth of the influential “Incidents of Travel in Central America” written by John Lloyd Stephens, published in 1841. This crucial book marked the turning point from situating Book of Mormon events in a North American context to a Mesoamerican setting (evidenced by statements in the Nauvoo-era periodical “Times and Seasons.”) While this early history may be familiar to readers (the influence of Stephens has been discussed in many venues), Francaviglia then turns to several lesser known (in all likelihood unknown to most) attempts to represent this cornerstone Mormon scripture cartographically.
For example, he discusses a bold 1880 map (with input from legendary educator Karl Maeser) that identifies the precise landing spot of Nephi—in the northern half of modern-day Chile. Francaviglia then shifts to a 1916 effort by Joel Ricks—again (based on Ricks’ personal travel evidence), the map locates the initial action in South America. Interestingly, Ricks’ maps were included in his “Helps to the Study of the Book of Mormon” which was bound in with Church-published copies of the Book of Mormon itself. The First Presidency and 12 jointly ruled that these helps constituted too much of Ricks’ “personal views” and they instructed him to suspend sales, recall the books and rebind them sans helps. It would be interesting to know if the maps included in the helps were a factor in their decision.
One other map discussed in this section again exhibits the author’s eye for detail. His analysis of a map purportedly annotated by Orestes Bean is called into question because the map which bears some handwritten notes was copyrighted well after Bean’s death—only a careful researcher indeed would catch that.
After turning his attention to other oft-reprinted staples of Mormon publishing (such as Venice Priddis’ “The Book and the Map”) as well as the meteoric rise and fall of Thomas Stuart Ferguson’s zeal for Book of Mormon geography, Francaviglia discusses a subject (and map) that I would not have expected: the Polynesian Cultural Center. Interestingly, the author links the influence of both Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm to how the creators of the PCC organized this massive project. The only element that I felt was lacking from this superb chapter was a look at the recent crossing of cartographic swords between the vocal “Heartland” proponents (such as Wayne May and Rod Meldrum) and the “FARMS” delegation (most notably, John L. Sorenson—who, in all fairness, Francaviglia does discuss).
Ever since I first heard of this book, I was intrigued. I am quite happy to say that it was unequivocally as enjoyable as I had hoped. To bolster this assessment, I feel that the author and publisher deserve particular praise for creating an aesthetically superb physical book as well. Linen covered boards, Smyth-sewn binding, sharp images and a dust jacket (for a *very* reasonable price!) were all very welcome elements.
In an era where an alarmingly rising percentage of books are produced by slapdash print-on-demand methods, it is refreshing to see a reasonably-priced book exude such high quality. Whether a reader is a devotee of maps specifically or just someone who appreciates Mormon history well told, “Mapmakers” is a very laudable contribution to the field.