Toby Lester is a contributing editor to and has written for The Atlantic on subjects that include the sociology of new religions, the attempt to reconstruct ancient Greek music, the struggle to change alphabets in Azerbaijan, and the chance harmonies of everyday sounds. His work has also been featured on the radio show This American Life.

A former Peace Corps volunteer and United Nations observer, he lives in the Boston area with his wife and three daughters. He is an invited research scholar at Brown University’s John Carter Brown Library.

The Fourth Part of the World is is an epic adventure story about the creation of the map that introduced Europe to America and ushered in the New World.
Kirkus Reviews calls it "a swift, sweeping primer on the Age of Discovery and the legacy of mapmaking."

Join us for a fascinating discussion on the map that joined the New World, the "fourth part of the world," to the rest of history.