When the world's at stake,
go beyond the headlines.

Welcome to Mid-Afternoon Map, our exclusive members-only newsletter that provides a cartographic perspective on current events, geopolitics, and history from the Caucasus to the Carolinas. Subscribers can look forward to interesting takes on good maps and bad maps, beautiful maps and ugly ones — and bizarre maps whenever possible.***“Since 1910 Mexico has been in a state of continuous turmoil. … American and European lives have been lost in considerable number . . . foreign property has been destroyed. … Diplomatic mediation and a waiting policy have failed to pacify the country, military intervention seems the only solution of the problem.”Today, Americans continue to debate the merits of foreign intervention. But we do so without the input of our leading beer brands. In 1914, by contrast, anyone wondering how Washington should respond to the Mexican Revolution could read the above call to arms in the Schlitz War Atlas. Apparently, after making Milwaukee famous, Schlitz beer set its sights on making the United States adopt a more hawkish approach to hemispheric affairs.Atlas of the Mexican Conflict, Rand McNally & Company, Chicago – New York, 1914.When I first saw this, I immediately wrote to ask if Schlitz had published any other atlases or was planning new ones for any contemporary conflicts. A few days later, I got an email back from the Pabst consumer experience team (both Schlitz and Pabst are now owned by Blue Ribbon Intermediate Holdings, LLC), regretting that they could not provide any assistance as “we currently do not have a corporate historian.”I sent my resume just in case, but I haven’t heard back. Admittedly, I was unaware of the most basic Schlitz history. The company, for example, claims to have introduced the brown beer bottle. As the atlas explains: “The enlightened public today demands more.” While other brewers ship beer in