Well known for its flexibility, clarity of presentation, and graphic excellence, Physical Geography: The Global Environment, Fifth Edition, provides a thorough, scientifically authoritative, accessible, and geographic view of Earth's physical systems.

Physical Geography: The Global Environment

Science & Math

De Blij, Harm

Mason, Joseph

Burt, Jason

Müller, Peter

Earth Sciences

Oxford University Press

Over the next half century, the human population, divided by culture and economics and armed with weapons of mass destruction, will expand to nearly 9 billion people. Abrupt climate change may throw the global system into chaos; China will emerge as a superpower; and Islamic terrorism and insurgency will threaten vital American interests. How can we understand these and other global challenges? Harm de Blij has a simple answer: by improving our understanding of the world's geography. De Blij demonstrates how geography's perspectives yield unique and penetrating insights into the interconnections that mark our shrinking world. Centuries ago a surge of climate change halted China's maritime plans; more recently, environmental calamity altered the course of geopolitical events in East Asia; today, terrorists look for failed and malfunctioning states to base their operations--and some of these are in our own hemisphere. Preparing for climate change, averting a cold war with China, defeating terrorism: all of this requires geographic knowledge. In Why Geography Matters, de Blij makes an urgent call to restore geography to America's educational curriculum. He shows how and why the U.S. has become the world's most geographically illiterate society of consequence--and demonstrates that this geographic illiteracy is a direct risk to America's national security. In this personal and engaging book, de Blij provides a geographer's perspective on the challenges of this new century. As he states, "We are crossing the threshold to a century that will witness massive environmental change, major population shifts, persistent civilizational conflicts [and] while geographic knowledge by itself cannot solve these problems, they will not be effectively approached without it."

Why Geography Matters: Three Challenges Facing America: Climate Change, the Rise of China, and Global Terrorism

History

World

Over the next half century, the human population, divided by culture and economics and armed with weapons of mass destruction, will expand to nearly 9 billion people. Abrupt climate change may throw the global system into chaos; China will emerge as a superpower; and Islamic terrorism and insurgency will threaten vital American interests. How can we understand these and other global challenges? Harm de Blij has a simple answer: by improving our understanding of the world's geography. In Why Geography Matters, de Blij demonstrates how geography's perspectives yield unique and penetrating insights into the interconnections that mark our shrinking world. Preparing for climate change, averting a cold war with China, defeating terrorism: all of this requires geographic knowledge. De Blij also makes an urgent call to restore geography to America's educational curriculum. He shows how and why the U.S. has become the world's most geographically illiterate society of consequence, and demonstrates the great risk this poses to America's national security. Peppering his writing with anecdotes from his own professional travels, de Blij provides an original treatise that is as engaging as it is eye opening. Casual or professional readers in areas such as education, politics, or national security will find themselves with a stimulating new perspective on geography as it continues to affect our world.

Historical Study & Educational Resources

The world is not as mobile or as interconnected as we like to think. As Harm de Blij argues in The Power of Place, in crucial ways--from the uneven distribution of natural resources to the unequal availability of opportunity--geography continues to hold billions of people in its grip. We are all born into natural and cultural environments that shape what we become, individually and collectively. From our "mother tongue" to our father's faith, from medical risks to natural hazards, where we start our journey has much to do with our destiny. Hundreds of millions of farmers in the river basins of Asia and Africa, and tens of millions of shepherds in isolated mountain valleys from the Andes to Kashmir, all live their lives much as their distant ancestors did, remote from the forces of globalization. Incorporating a series of persuasive maps, De Blij describes the tremendously varied environments across the planet and shows how migrations between them are comparatively rare. De Blij also looks at the ways we are redefining place so as to make its power even more potent than it has been, with troubling implications.

The Power of Place: Geography, Destiny, and Globalization's Rough Landscape

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

Atlas of the United States

An indispensable item in any modern professional or personal library, the Atlas of the United States offers a closer look at the oldest, richest, and most populous country on the continent. Opening with two pages of the latest statistics, this atlas provides a broad overview of a multicultural and diverse nation taking its first steps into a new century. The heart of this comprehensive volume is a unique thematic section covering physical, historic, urban, economic, social, and cultural topics ranging from environmental change to religious practice, and indigenous peoples to migration patterns. Accompanied by a balanced combination of informative text and instructive charts and graphs, these newly drawn maps seek to explain the dynamic forces shaping the United States of America. The thematic section is followed by a spectacular two-page satellite image of the lower 48 states and several regional maps including a full page for the US Pacific islands plus dozens of larger-scale maps of urban areas. A useful, illustrated gazetteer offers still more precision with charts of census data and descriptions of the history, geography, and industry of each state and its capital. In combination, these components transform the new Atlas of the United States into a home reference unsurpassed in quality that is equal parts study source and travel guide. All of this is facilitated by a comprehensive index with latitude and longitude coordinates and alphanumeric grid references that make finding places effortless. What's more, page number indicators and refined locator windows throughout the atlas allow for easy identification of adjacent map pages. With hundreds of maps rendering every region from Barrow, Alaska to Venice, Florida in layer-colored contours, this The thematic section is followed by a spectacular two-page atlas is the United States as it hasn't been seen before.

Reference

Atlases & Maps

In recent years our world has seen transformations of all kinds: intense climate change accompanied by significant weather extremes; deadly tsunamis caused by submarine earthquakes; unprecedented terrorist attacks; costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; a terrible and overlooked conflict in Equatorial Africa costing millions of lives; an economic crisis threatening the stability of the international system. Is there some way we can get our minds around these disparate global upheavals, to grasp these events and their interconnections, and place our turbulent world in a more understandable light? Acclaimed author Harm de Blij answers this question with one word: geography. In this revised edition of the immensely popular and influential Why Geography Matters, de Blij tackles topics from the burgeoning presence of China to the troubling disarray of the European Union, from the dangerous nuclear ambitions of North Korea to the revolutionary Arab Spring. By improving our understanding of the world's geography, de Blij shows, we can better respond to the events around us, and better prepare ourselves to face the global challenges ahead. Peppering his writing with anecdotes from his own professional travels, de Blij expands upon his original argument, offering an updated work that is as engaging as it is eye-opening. Casual students of geography and professional policy-makers alike will benefit from this stimulating and crucial perspective on geography and the way it shapes our world's events. America, de Blij warns, has become the world's most geographically illiterate society of consequence. Indeed, despite increasing global interconnectivity and rapid change, Americans seem to be less informed and less knowledgeable about the rest of the world than ever. In this compelling volume, de Blij shows why this dispiriting picture must change, and change now.

Why Geography Matters: More Than Ever

Human Geography: People, Place, and Culture, Wiley AP Edition

Fouberg, Erin H.

Murphy, Alexander B.

wiley

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Books by De Blij, Harm