Drawing the Line

By Edwin Danson

Book Overview

THE FIRST POPULAR HISTORY OF THE MAKING OF THE MASON-DIXON LINE The Mason-Dixon line-surely the most famous surveyors' line ever drawn-represents one of the greatest and most difficult scientific achievements of its time. But behind this significant triumph is a thrilling story, one that has thus far eluded both historians and surveyors. In this engrossing narrative, professional surveyor Edwin Danson takes us on a fascinating journey with Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, two gifted and exuberant English surveyors, through the fields and forests of eighteenth-century America. Vividly describing life in the backwoods and the hardships and dangers of frontier surveying, Drawing the Line discloses for the first time in 250 years many hitherto unknown surveying methods, revealing how Mason and Dixon succeeded where the best American surveyors of the period failed. In accessible, ordinary language, Danson masterfully throws the first clear light on the surveying of the Mason-Dixon line. Set in the social and historical context of pre-Revolutionary America, this book is a spellbinding account of one of the great and historic achievements of its time. Advance Praise for Drawing the Line -Drawing the Line combines a fast-moving story, a human drama, and a clear account of surveying in the era of George Washington. An intriguing interaction of politics and science.--CHARLES ROYSTER, Boyd Professor of History, Louisiana State University, and Winner of the Bancroft Prize in History

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0471385026
• ISBN13: 9780471385028
• Release Date: December 2000
• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Response to Ed Moorehead's review

Drawing the Line was written to appeal to a wide readership - complex astronomy and survey maths are deliberately excluded. Nevertheless it is very gratifying when someone has a go at checking something difficult. Ed Moorehead got `hung up' on the distance of one degree of latitude at the equator and pole. The book is correct - his understandable confusion arises due to the fact that the Earth is elliptical and not circular and the fact that `astronomical' verticals do not pass through the centre of the Earth.

Well written history of the boundary dispute

I found this book very interesting. Both in the facts surrounding the surveying of the Mason-Dixon line and the life of the people living at that time. The descriptions given in the book about the political power and its misuse reminded me that in those terms, things are still the same today. The brutality of some of the people toward others (both here and abroad)is still true today. It was very interesting to note that some of the people who lived such short lives did manage to accomplish quite a lot. The people seemed to endured the elements and harsh weather conditions much better back then also, without complaining. The power of a persons mind to come up with a solution about the boundary dispute and the accuracy that was attained using rather crude instruments(by todays standards)was well worth noticing. Excellant book overall. Would make a good mini-series for Ken Burns to produce.

A rare look into the applied astronomy of the 18th century..

Most people have probably heard of the Mason-Dixon line, though they may not be aware of where or exactly what it is. I grew up less than three miles from the famous line that separates Maryland from Pennsylvania, and was aware that there were stone monuments spaced every mile along the boarder - but I had no idea of the origins of this line. Danson weaves the historical backdrop that necessitated the survey and follows Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, two British astronomers, as they traveled to the colonies with their telescopes, quadrants, and mathematical expertise. A surveying job such as this required exquisite accuracy in the determination of latitude and longitude - a job for skilled astronomers in their day.For the more technically inclined, appendices are provided that go deeper into the methods surveyors use to shoot the lines. Given the amount of astronomy involved in such a surveying job, I wish the author would have provided more detail about the instruments Dixon and Mason used to accomplish their task. I'm sure it was not Danson's intention to cover this sort of technical instrumentation in detail, but in my (biased) opinion, it would have enhanced the story. Still an excellent book and one any person interested in the history of science should read.

Mason and Dixon ? all you ever wanted to know

Who hasn't heard of Mason and Dixon but Drawing the Line makes them seem like old friends. This is one of those books you occasionally find that gives you `two for the price of one'.The book begins with the founding of Maryland and Pennsylvania and background to the quarrels between the colonies - interesting things I never knew about America and Britain. Danson then tells about contemporary astronomy science and surveying, which is equally interesting. There are no maths or complex equations (sorry Dreckman and Lorenzi but I couldn't find any and I read the whole book) but there is an appendix with technical explanations for those who like that sort of thing but I skipped it.The story is how Mason and Dixon are recruited by the British Royal Society to go to South Africa to record the transit of Venus and measure the distance to the sun and on the way they are ambushed by a French warship. The excellence of their work in Africa makes them the ideal men to survey the Maryland / Pennsylvania border. Danson then follows the adventures of Mason and Dixon as they survey the borderlines and explore America. The period of their work coincides with the independence movement and the narrative is full of contemporary comment, issues and observation. They also measure a `degree of latitude' to discover the size of the earth. The book finishes with Mason and Dixon's twilite years and a bitter-sweet ending.I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys the excitement mixing science with history makes. It is finely pitched enough to make you think a little but you don't need to be an astrophysicist to understand or enjoy it. Excellent fun.

The real Mason and Dixon

This book is great. It takes us through the whole story and holds no blows. Danson includes the tragedies along with the triumphs making this a truly fascinating read. Most of the technical stuff is in an appendix at the back of the book. The information we need to uderstand the drawing of the line is given clearly and I'm thankful for that. Danson helped me to understand the book without being patronising. I could spend hours reading it in my favourite coffee shop.This is the best book on the Mason-Dixon Line on the market:I love it.