Contemporary anxieties about climate change have fueled a growing interest in how landscapes are formed and transformed across spans of time, from decades to millennia. While the discipline of geography has had much to say about how such environmental transformations occur, few studies have focused on the lives of geographers themselves, their ideologies, and how they understand their field. This edited collection illuminates the social and biographical contexts of geographers in postwar Britain who were influenced by and studied under the pioneering geomorphologist, A. T. Grove. These contributors uncover the relationships and networks that shaped their research on diverse terrains from Africa to the Mediterranean, highlighting their shared concerns which have profound implications not only for the study of geography and geomorphology, but also for questions of environmental history, ecological conservation, and human security.
This book, considers the major philosophical and methodological trends within each 'school, ' the balance between the various sub-disciplines, the role of leading individuals, influences upon the development of the subject, and its impact in education and elsewhere
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In this “ambitious and challenging” (The New York Review of Books) work, the bestselling author of Monsoon and Balkan Ghosts offers a revelatory prism through which to view global upheavals and to understand what lies ahead for continents and countries around the world. In The Revenge of Geography, Robert D. Kaplan builds on the insights, discoveries, and theories of great geographers and geopolitical thinkers of the near and distant past to look back at critical pivots in history and then to look forward at the evolving global scene. Kaplan traces the history of the world’s hot spots by examining their climates, topographies, and proximities to other embattled lands. The Russian steppe’s pitiless climate and limited vegetation bred hard and cruel men bent on destruction, for example, while Nazi geopoliticians distorted geopolitics entirely, calculating that space on the globe used by the British Empire and the Soviet Union could be swallowed by a greater German homeland. Kaplan then applies the lessons learned to the present crises in Europe, Russia, China, the Indian subcontinent, Turkey, Iran, and the Arab Middle East. The result is a holistic interpretation of the next cycle of conflict throughout Eurasia. Remarkably, the future can be understood in the context of temperature, land allotment, and other physical certainties: China, able to feed only 23 percent of its people from land that is only 7 percent arable, has sought energy, minerals, and metals from such brutal regimes as Burma, Iran, and Zimbabwe, putting it in moral conflict with the United States. Afghanistan’s porous borders will keep it the principal invasion route into India, and a vital rear base for Pakistan, India’s main enemy. Iran will exploit the advantage of being the only country that straddles both energy-producing areas of the Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea. Finally, Kaplan posits that the United States might rue engaging in far-flung conflicts with Iraq and Afghanistan rather than tending to its direct neighbor Mexico, which is on the verge of becoming a semifailed state due to drug cartel carnage. A brilliant rebuttal to thinkers who suggest that globalism will trump geography, this indispensable work shows how timeless truths and natural facts can help prevent this century’s looming cataclysms.
'Ian Morris has established himself as a leader in making big history interesting and understandable' Jared Diamond, author of Guns, Germs and Steel 'Morris succeeds triumphantly at cramming 10,000 years of history into a single book' Robert Colvile, The Times For hundreds of years, Britannia ruled the waves and an empire on which the sun never set - but for thousands of years before that, Britain had been no more than a cluster of unimportant islands off Europe's north-west shore. Drawing on the latest archaeological and historical evidence, Ian Morris shows how much the meaning of Britain's geography has changed in the 10,000 years since rising seas began separating the Isles from the Continent, and how these changing meanings have determined Britons' destinies. From being merely Europe's fractious, feuding periphery - divided by customs, language and landscape, and always at the mercy of more powerful continental neighbours - the British turned themselves into a United Kingdom and put it at the centre of global politics, commerce and culture. But as power and wealth now shift from the West towards China, what fate awaits Britain in the twenty-first century?
DECOLONISING GEOGRAPHY? “This book presents an extraordinarily sensitive account of geography’s histories in five African countries subjected to British colonial rule. Craggs and Neate draw together political and imaginative processes of decolonisation, through an innovative biographical approach that humanizes and enlivens the story of our academic discipline. It will be an invaluable resource for those seeking a deeper understanding of??decolonisation, its recent trajectories and far-reaching implications, on the African continent.” —Shari Daya, Affiliate Associate Professor in Environmental and Geographical Science, University of Cape Town “By placing the experiences, ideas, and practices of African geographers in the center of their analyses, Craggs and Neate provide an unprecedented account of historical and contemporary decolonizing struggles within Geography and the academy. This book should be required reading for all those looking to decolonize the discipline and dislodge it from its Global North histories, institutions, and ideologies.” —Mona Domosh, Professor of Geography, The Joan P. and Edward J. Foley Jr. 1933 Professor, Dartmouth College “This meticulous work explores how colonialism, decolonization and postcolonialism shaped African geography and geographers. It sheds light on efforts to ‘Africanize’ the discipline, a process which I was both witness to and a participant in.” —Stanley Okafor, Professor of Geography (Retired), University of Ibadan How did a generation of academic geographers engage with constitutional decolonisation during the end of the British empire in Africa? In Decolonising Geography? Disciplinary Histories and the End of the British Empire in Africa, 1948-1998, Ruth Craggs and Hannah Neate explore how the teaching, research, administration and activism of geographers in Africa shaped the discipline and the post-colonial geopolitics of the continent. The authors follow the professional lives of individual geographers to provide fresh insights into decolonisation in the former British Empire in Africa, drawing from extensive archival research and more than 40 oral history interviews with geographers in Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and the UK. Decolonising Geography is a must-read for any reader in the UK and Africa with an interest in the relationships between geography and decolonisation.
Fronted by one of the world’s most iconic doors, 10 Downing Street is the home and office of the British Prime Minister and the heart of British politics. Steeped in both political and architectural history, this famed address was originally designed in the late seventeenth century as little more than a place of residence, with no foresight of the political significance the location would come to hold. As its role evolved, 10 Downing Street, now known simply as ‘Number 10,’ has required constant adaptation in order to accommodate the changing requirements of the premiership. Written by Number 10’s first ever ‘Researcher in Residence,’ with unprecedented access to people and papers, No. 10: The Geography of Power at Downing Street sheds new light on unexplored aspects of Prime Ministers’ lives. Jack Brown tells the story of the intimately entwined relationships between the house and its post-war residents, telling how each occupant’s use and modification of the building reveals their own values and approaches to the office of Prime Minister. The book reveals how and why Prime Ministers have stamped their personalities and philosophies upon Number 10 and how the building has directly affected the ability of some Prime Ministers to perform the role. Both fascinating and extremely revealing, No. 10 offers an intimate account of British political power and the building at its core. It is essential reading for anyone interested in the nature and history of British politics.
‘For geographers across the globe this book provides the arguments for a return to the teaching of geography and why they should reject the politicisation of the subject by education policy makers and politicians. Standish’s careful critique shows the necessity of a depoliticised geography curriculum the irony of which would be that it would ensure that every child could point to Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan on a map.’ Prof. Dennis Hayes – Oxford Brookes University, UK 'A prescient and critical analysis of the changing face of geography teaching. This book deserves to be widely read and debated. Alex Standish's book puts current trends in geography teaching in historical and critical context. It comprises a forthright and timely defence of geographical education for its own sake.' Dr Jim Butcher, FRSA, Department of Sport Science, Tourism and Leisure, Canterbury Christ Church University. Since the early 1990s, educational policy makers and some subject leaders have been seeking to fundamentally change the teaching of geography in UK and US schools, from a subject which encourages students to explore spatial concepts, ideas and skills, to a more ethics based subject concerned with the promotion of environmentalism, cultural diversity and social justice. In this book the new approach is critically examined, within a historical and ideological context, addressing a number of fundamental questions: Should geography be used as a tool for the delivery of citizenship ideals? How does this affect the intellectual and moral value of geographical education for young people? If the state and teachers are taking more responsibility for the values, attitudes and emotional responses of students, how will they learn to develop these qualities for themselves? If global perspectives shift the focus of education from learning about the outside world to learning about the self, what is its vision of social progress and conception of social change? This book advocates a return to liberal models of education, arguing that the new approach to geography currently being promoted for schools fundamentally undermines the educational value of the subject, and the freedom of young people to shape the world in which they live. A vital resource for teachers and student teachers alike, Global Perspectives in the Geography Curriculum makes a significant contribution to the growing debate about the future direction of the discipline itself.
A selection of papers on a broad range of military topics ranging from the strategic perspective, through analyses of historical battles at the operational and tactical levels, to the use of advanced technologies applied to present-day military problems.
A chronology of world history ranges from the dawn of humankind to the present day, examining important events, milestones, ideas, and personalities that occurred simultaneously in different regions of the world.
