Bushmanders and Bullwinkles: How Politicians Manipulate Electronic Maps and Census Data to Win Elections [Hardcover]

Mark Monmonier (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 2001

For years Mark Monmonier, "a prose stylist of no mean ability or charm" according to the Washington Post, has delighted readers with his insightful understanding of cartography as an art and technology that is both deceptive and revealing. Now he turns his focus to the story of political cartography and the redrawing of congressional districts. His title Bushmanders and Bullwinkles combines gerrymander with the surname of the president who actively tolerated racial gerrymandering and draws attention to the ridiculously shaped congressional districts that evoke the antlers of the moose who shared the cartoon spotlight with Rocky the Flying Squirrel.

Written from the perspective of a cartographer rather than a political scientist, Bushmanders and Bullwinkles examines the political tales maps tell when votes and power are at stake. Monmonier shows how redistricting committees carve out favorable election districts for themselves and their allies; how disgruntled politicians use shape to challenge alleged racial gerrymanders; and how geographic information systems can make reapportionment a controversial process with outrageous products. He also explores controversies over the proper roles of natural boundaries, media maps, census enumeration, and ethnic identity. Raising important questions about Supreme Court decisions in regulating redistricting, Monmonier asks if the focus on form rather than function may be little more than a distraction from larger issues like election reform.

Characterized by the same wit and clarity as Monmonier's previous books, Bushmanders and Bullwinkles is essential background for understanding what might prove the most contentious political debate of the new decade.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Maps present one of the prickliest problems in U.S. politics. The shape of congressional districts plays a gigantic role in the never-ending struggle between Democrats and Republicans. Draw the boundaries one way, and liberals have the upper hand. Shift them around a bit, and suddenly conservatives control the agenda. Gerrymandering is a constant threat every 10 years, when the states redraw their congressional districts based on fresh census information. The stakes are enormous, and abuse is almost a certainty. That's why Bushmanders and Bullwinkles is so welcome. "I want to make readers aware of how legislators, judges, and other elected officials use the decennial remap to promote personal or ideological agendas," writes Mark Monmonier. He succeeds at this gloriously--and just in time: redistricting will be a hot-button issue in the years ahead, as states draw their new maps in 2001 and 2002, the parties inevitably go to court in 2003, and finally the 2004 election shakeout arrives, with results that can reverberate for years. (Some analysts argue that redistricting explains why Republicans captured the House in 1994, for example.)

What's more, redistricting has never been more complicated. Monmonier walks readers through all the important controversies, paying special attention to the furor over majority-minority districts. He describes the paradox of the first Bush administration working with black and Hispanic groups to create these jurisdictions--on the theory that packing minority voters into overwhelmingly Democratic districts would dilute their influence elsewhere and thereby help elect more Republicans. The result was a surge in black and Hispanic members of Congress (a goal of the minority groups), plus gains for the GOP. Achieving this required sophisticated software, and resulted in messy, fractal-shaped districts.

This is an outstanding guide to these once and future controversies. It's also loaded with maps, which are essential to any understanding of the subject. For readers looking for a primer on this complex but vital and fascinating topic, there may be nothing better than Bushmanders and Bullwinkles. --John J. Miller

From Publishers Weekly

With the 2000 census completed, congressional districts will soon be redrawn. And how they are redrawn may determine who controls the next Congress. Monmonier instructs readers in the complexities of the remapping process and explores its possible outcomes. According to the author, "the goal of most redistricting efforts" is to protect incumbents, but there are other goals. After the 1990 census, one aim was to increase minority representation then-president Bush's gerrymandering led to the creation of New York City's bizarrely shaped 12th congressional district, which, according to Monmonier, resembles Bullwinkle's antler. It may seem surprising that a Republican administration would want to create districts that would elect minorities (who are less likely than whites to vote Republican), but as Monmonier (How to Lie with Maps), a geography professor at Syracuse University, explains, such districts can, paradoxically, decrease minority representation in Congress by adding white voters to surrounding districts. The author relates the history of political gerrymandering (named after Elbridge Gerry, governor of Massachusetts and later the fifth U.S. vice-president), but he makes his strongest case when talking about the future. Monmonier argues that the U.S. needs to consider other alternatives to racial gerrymandering to ensure better minority representation in Congress (e.g., proportional representation which caused the downfall of Lani Guinier). The fact is that race matters, Monmomier observes; the emphasis should be on how racial electoral conflicts are resolved. (Apr.)Forecast: This is a timely and important book, but too technical for any but devoted cartographers and political junkies. Perhaps its arguments will trickle into public consciousness by way of political journalists rather than through a wide readership.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 216 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; 1 edition (April 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226534243
• ISBN-13: 978-0226534244
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,077,653 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars How to design electoral districts to win, March 23, 2006

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C. Griffith - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bushmanders and Bullwinkles: How Politicians Manipulate Electronic Maps and Census Data to Win Elections (Hardcover)

Creating electoral districts to aid the party controlling the state legislature is a practice that goes back in U. S. history at least to the early 19th century. Monmonier gives a simple, easy- to-follow example of how it can be done, using simple diagrams.

5.0 out of 5 stars bushmander and bullwinkles, May 29, 2010

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Dennis M. Wong - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bushmanders and Bullwinkles: How Politicians Manipulate Electronic Maps and Census Data to Win Elections (Hardcover)

Item received as described. Excellent for an introduction to one of the problems which exists in our present government's political system which needs to be fixed. Somewhat technical in some respects but provides a basic grounding in the process of how the census plays an important role in this process.

5 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars not as good as "how to lie with maps", March 26, 2002

By 

Travisji Corcoran "anarcho-capitalist" (Arlington, MA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bushmanders and Bullwinkles: How Politicians Manipulate Electronic Maps and Census Data to Win Elections (Hardcover)

This is a decent book touching on Gerrymandering of congressional and other districts in order to select the population within each district to guarantee politicians of certain parties getting elected, however, the author's partisanship (leftist) shows through: he coins a word ("Bushmander") to pin Gerrymandering on Republicans, when in fact this behavior has been historically concentrated on the left, both because of Democractic Machine politics, and because of affirmative action racial preferences applied to electoral mechanics. The author thus blames Bush I even though the vast majority of the racial gerrmandering was invited by the Voting Rights Act, a Democratic initiative, and was done by social activists with in the Justice Department in an attempt to create more African American (i.e. "Democratic") districts...but the unintended consequence of this was to simultaneously create more monolithic Republican districts at the same time. In fact, as even the author is forced to admit, the Republicans argued against racial gerrymandering...but this does not stop the Republican administrations under which much of the gerrymandering took place from getting blame, both in the book and in the book's title, for the very policies they fought.