Us History Through Infographics

Wrapping your head around centuries of American history can make you dizzy. You need to know about the land (828,000 acres from the Louisiana Purchase alone), the people (from the earliest American Indian peoples to the immigrants of the last few centuries), and the high stakes (from a risky revolution to an international space race). How can all these dates and details make more sense? Infographics! The charts, maps, and illustrations in this book tell a visual story to help you better understand key concepts about our country's history. Crack open this book to explore mind-boggling questions such as: • What can we learn about America's earliest peoples based on what they left behind? • Why did people come to the United States? • How did American inventions change the world? The answers will help you see straight!

This vibrant, illustrated guide to the ins and outs of United States politics provides a clearer understanding of the current events and regular processes that shape this nation and the world. Decipher the American political system with this clear, easy-to-understand guide to the basics of the United States political system, from the founding of the thirteen colonies, to the foundations of the constitution, to how elections work. You’ll also find information about the history and context of current issues, like how Supreme Court justices are appointed; the electoral college and the popular vote; and how to get involved in the political process. Perfect for anyone looking for information on basic political processes, The Infographic Guide to American Government includes graphics that help simplify a range of topics from the Revolutionary War to all about a free press.

"Wrapping your head around centuries of American history can make you dizzy. You need to know about the land (828,000 acres from the Louisiana Purchase alone), the people (from the earliest American Indian peoples to the immigrants of the last few centuries), and the high stakes (from a risky revolution to an international space race). How can all these dates and details make more sense? Infographics! The charts, maps, and illustrations in this book tell a visual story to help you better understand key concepts about our country's history."--Page 4 of cover.

Updated to reflect our rapidly changing world.

An exploration of infographics and data visualization as a cultural phenomenon, from eighteenth-century print culture to today's data journalism. Infographics and data visualization are ubiquitous in our everyday media diet, particularly in news—in print newspapers, on television news, and online. It has been argued that infographics are changing what it means to be literate in the twenty-first century—and even that they harmonize uniquely with human cognition. In this first serious exploration of the subject, Murray Dick traces the cultural evolution of the infographic, examining its use in news—and resistance to its use—from eighteenth-century print culture to today's data journalism. He identifies six historical phases of infographics in popular culture: the proto-infographic, the classical, the improving, the commercial, the ideological, and the professional. Dick describes the emergence of infographic forms within a wider history of journalism, culture, and communications, focusing his analysis on the UK. He considers their use in the partisan British journalism of late eighteenth and early nineteenth-century print media; their later deployment as a vehicle for reform and improvement; their mass-market debut in the twentieth century as a means of explanation (and sometimes propaganda); and their use for both ideological and professional purposes in the post–World War II marketized newspaper culture. Finally, he proposes best practices for news infographics and defends infographics and data visualization against a range of criticism. Dick offers not only a history of how the public has experienced and understood the infographic, but also an account of what data visualization can tell us about the past.

Navigating US geography can leave you feeling lost and all over the map. You need to know about all 50 states (Wisconsin has more than 600 kinds of cheese!), different landscapes and climates (from deserts to polar regions), and where to watch out for natural disasters (beware of Tornado Alley!). How can all these facts and locations make more sense? Infographics! The charts, maps, and illustrations in this book tell a visual story to help you better understand key concepts about our country’s geography. Crack open this book to explore mind-boggling questions such as: • How are the 317 million US citizens spread out across the country? • What happens every day in the United States? • Where do our natural resources come from? The answers will help you find your way!

Trying to comprehend the US government can almost make your mind shut down. You need to understand how it stacks up to governments around the world (from democracy to dictatorship), how systems and laws change over time (years ago, women couldn't vote!), and who holds the power today (how do big decisions get made?). How can all these laws and ideas make more sense? Infographics! The charts, maps, and illustrations in this book tell a visual story to help you better understand key concepts about our country's government. Crack open this book to explore mind-boggling questions such as: • Why was the first government created? • How does a system of checks and balances work? • Where does all that tax money go? The answers will help make you a model citizen!

Year two of this fresh, timely, beautiful addition to the Best American series, introduced by Nate Silver The rise of infographics across virtually all print and electronic media reveals patterns in our lives and worlds in fresh and surprising ways. As we find ourselves in the era of big data, where information moves faster than ever, infographics provide us with quick, often influential bursts of art and knowledge — to digest, tweet, share, go viral. Best American Infographics 2014 captures the finest examples, from the past year, of this mesmerizing new way of seeing and understanding our world. Guest introducer Nate Silver brings his unparalleled expertise and lively analysis to this visually compelling new volume.