Michael Waterhouse

Global Politics

The World of Gerard Mercator

By

HarperCollins 304pp £16.99 order from our bookshop

THESE DAYS MAP-MAKERS are rarely the objects of vilification. That distinction tends to be reserved for other kinds of scientist, such as researchers who experiment on animals, or WMD experts. But in the sixteenth century any intellectual living in mainland Europe could find himself denounced to the Inquisition, and if his view of the world did not conform to that of the Catholic Church, he could be in mortal danger.

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