Monmonier's research focused on the twentieth-century history of
cartography, in particular, map-related inventions and patents. He also wrote extensively on the use of maps for surveillance and as analytical and persuasive tools in politics, journalism, environmental science, and public administration.[5]
The "Monmonier Algorithm", an important research tool for geographic studies in
linguistics and
genetics, is based on an article he published in 1973.[6][7]
In 2023, the American Association of Geographers awarded Monmonier the AAG Lifetime Achievement Honors, for
making "outstanding contributions to geographic research, most notably in the fields of cartography and geographic communication" as well as an "extensive record of distinctive leadership at national and international levels".[7][10]
Publications
Monmonier has authored over 20 books, and his popular written works show a combination of serious study and a sense of humor. Most of his work is published by the
University of Chicago Press.[11] He has appeared on
National Public Radio interview programs.
For example, in From Squaw Tit to Whorehouse Meadow: how maps name, claim, and inflame, Monmonier discusses topics such as:
the propensity of conquerors to rename places after those friendly to the new
regime.
the tension between place names assigned by the federal
Board on Geographic Names and state and local government agencies.
In How to Lie with Maps, Monmonier gives us a different view of maps: Different
projections give vastly disparate impressions of the same "facts" or terrain.
Single-authored Books
Adventures in Academic Cartography: A Memoir (Syracuse, NY: Bar Scale Press, 2014, 2016)
ISBN9781523254316
Air Apparent: How Meteorologists Learned to Map, Predict, and Dramatize Weather (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999)
ISBN0-226-53422-7
Bushmanders & Bullwinkles: How Politicians Manipulate Electronic Maps and Census Data to Win Elections (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001)
ISBN0-226-53424-3
Cartographies of Danger: Mapping Hazards in America (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997)
ISBN0-226-53419-7
Clock and Compass: How John Byron Plato Gave Farmers a Real Address (Iowa City, IA: University of Iowa Press, forthcoming 20224
Coast Lines: How Mapmakers Frame the World and Chart Environmental Change (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008)
ISBN0-226-53403-0
Connections and Content: Reflections on Networks and the History of Cartography (Redlands, CA: Esri Press, 2019)
ISBN978-1-58948-559-4
Drawing the Line: Tales of Maps and Cartocontroversy (New York: Henry Holt, 1995)
ISBN0-8050-2581-2
From Squaw Tit to Whorehouse Meadow: How Maps Name, Claim, and Inflame (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006)
ISBN0-226-53465-0
How to Lie with Maps, 3rd ed., (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2018) [First edition 1991; French translation, 1993; Japanese translation, 1995; German translation, 1996; Korean translation, 1998 | second edition, expanded, 1996; Korean translation, 1998; Czech translation, 2000; Chinese translation, 2012 | third edition, 2018; French translation, 2019; Russian translation, 2021]
ISBN978-0-226-43592-3
Mapping It Out: Expository Cartography for the Humanities and Social Sciences (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993) [In the series of Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing and Publishing]
ISBN0-226-53417-0
Maps, Distortion, and Meaning (Washington, DC: Association of American Geographers, 1977)
ISBN0-89291-120-4
Maps with the News: the Development of American Journalistic Cartography (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989)
ISBN0-226-53413-8
No Dig, No Fly, No Go: How Maps Restrict and Control (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010)
ISBN978-0-226-53467-1
Patents and Cartographic Inventions: A New Perspective for Map History (New York and London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017)
ISBN978-3-319-51039-2
Rhumb Lines and Map Wars: a Social History of the Mercator Projection (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004) [Korean translation, 2006}
ISBN0-226-53431-6
Spying with Maps: Surveillance Technologies and the Future of Privacy (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002)
ISBN0-226-53427-8
Technological Transition in Cartography (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1985)
ISBN0-299-10070-7
Co-authored Books
Mark Monmonier and George A. Schnell, Map Appreciation (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1988)
ISBN0-13-556052-7
George A. Schnell and Mark Monmonier, The Study of Population: Elements, Patterns, Processes (Columbus, OH: Charles E. Merrill, 1983) ISBN 0-675-20046-6
Edited Encyclopedia
Cartography in the Twentieth Century [Volume Six of the History of Cartography]. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2015)
ISBN978-0-226-534695