The Real State of America Atlas: Mapping US Myths & Truths - Perfect for History Buffs, Educators & Travel Planners

Flipping randomly through the book, I burst out laughing at the map of a gerrymandered district on p. 37. I now understand why redistricting is an issue! The changing Indian territories maps on p.17, religious identities map on p. 31 and the amount of raw materials to build a car on p. 86 were eye-opening. The economic map on p. 46 showing the size of a state based on its GDP was an interesting way to present the data. The incarceration rate on p. 74 is striking and causes one to ask does the US have better enforcement or is something else going on? The book doesn't attempt to answer these questions but it provides a springboard for your own questions.For example, in the section on Poverty & Wealth, a short listing of Income Inequality shows the USA falls between Poland and Turkey. Really? Let's see - the authors provide us with pointers to the original data for all of their statistics. In this case the original source material is based on OECD data and, after a few minutes on that site, I found the original data as well as trend and other data. That lead to thinking about whether Gini numbers are important and what should be a reasonable value.The above points out some of the key strengths of the book.First, the book provides references to original authoritative data sources (like US Census Bureau, Pew, and OECD) to allow one the option to follow up, validate and explore further. This is critical because it seems that so much of what we hear from talk shows and read in blogs today are merely opinions cloaked as facts. If one wants reasoned debate, one needs start with well-researched statistical data from reputable sources.It is refreshing to have a book that presents complex data so engagingly. Few people would be inclined to navigate their way around the OECD site noted above! Comparisons between states or other nations are useful because a number in isolation can be difficult to assign importance to and comparisons allow benchmarking.The book covers a very wide range of topics, from a graphic showing the consumption of Coke around the world of to more current `3rd rail' topics like how the US compares to other countries on per capita health care costs or rates of violence against women. In choosing the topics and data to present, the authors are presenting a point of view but it is up to the reader to rationalize the data on their own terms. Statistics, at least well-researched ones, are politic-, color- and gender-neutral. The real issue is how they are interpreted.This is a book both to entertain and to provoke you to think. The US is a very big, diverse and complex nation and living in one's small section of it, it is hard to grasp how we are actually doing. This book serves a useful and important role by providing an engaging way to access core statistics about our country, covering a wide range of topics, and serving as a starting point for debate about the deeper questions those figures raise.