A cartographic fade to black

Mapping the destruction of urban Japan during World War II

Bibliographic Data

ID11910385
AuthorsDavid Fedman (Stanford University, corresponding author), Cary Karacas (City University of New York)
Year2012
Volume38
Issue3
Pages306-328
Publication date2012-04-12
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Historical Geography (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0305-7488 • E-ISSN: 1095-8614
PublisherElsevier BV (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/j.jhg.2012.02.004
OpenAlexW2006447358
LanguageEN
Citations received16

In this paper we examine the history, production, and use – practical and rhetorical – of maps created by the United States government during World War II as related to the development and execution of aerial bombing policies against Japan. Drawing from a range of maps and primary documents culled from libraries and archives in the United States, we argue that maps provide an important, and hitherto neglected, means through which to trace the exploration and eventual embrace of the incendiary bombing of Japan’s cities. In particular, our aim is to show how maps, along with the men who made and used them, played a central role in the planning and prosecution of air raids on urban Japan. We also address the mobilization of American geographers into the war effort, the re-configuration of America’s spatial intelligence community during World War II, and the ways in which maps were constructed in the context of total war

Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Context (archaeology · First world war · Geography · Government (linguistics · Linguistics · Literature · Political science · Rhetorical question · Spanish Civil War · World War II · Geographic Information Systems Studies · History · Japanese History and Culture

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