Elizabeth Sutton s book illustrates how the dissemination of maps contributed to the rise of the Dutch Republic. Maps, she arguesthe business of corporate cartographyjustified and encouraged expansion and promoted a capitalist economy. She explores maps as powerful tools of propaganda for the Dutch West India Company in the colonies of New Netherland (now New York) and New Holland (Dutch Brazil) and for the Dutch government in its own backyard during the Dutch Golden Age of 1600 to 1650. She also shows how map production coincided with the commodification of land and how Dutch map publishers appealed to the expectations of the consumer public."

Elizabeth A. Sutton is assistant professor of art history at the University of Northern Iowa.