American Space/American Place: Geographies of the Contemporary United States

by John Agnew (Editor), Jonathan M. Smith (Editor)

Overview

American Space/American Place offers geographical perspectives on the condition of the United States at the outset of the twenty-first century. It compares the American ideal of liberty, equality, individual opportunity and social improvement with the contemporary condition of the regions, states and localities--the ideal American space with its reality as a place. It uses the public standard provided by the official ideology of the United States to see how well things are really going. Agnew and Smith consider the contrast between ideal and reality at local, state and national levels in education, health, and welfare, in community, race, gender, and calss relations, in economic and industrial development, and in the use and exploitation of America's landscape. American Space/American Place provides a series of compelling insights into the current condition of American Society, its natural environment and its place within the world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781134900572
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	12/05/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	9 MB

About the Author

Jonathan M. Smith, John Agnew

Table of Contents

1.Introduction, John A. Agnew Part I.Environmental Ideals and Realities 2.The Place of Nature in America, Jonathan M. Smith 3.The Place of Value in the United States, Jonathan M. Smith Part II. Political-Economic Dimensions of the American Experience 4.America, Frontier Nation: From Abstract Space to Worldly Place, John A. Agnew and Joanne P. Sharp 5.Local Territories of US Government: From Ideals to the Politics of Place and Scale, Andrew E.G. Jonas 6.Urban and Regional Restructuring in the United States in the Second Half of the Twentieth Century, David L. Rigby Part III. Social-Cultural Dimensions of Americaness 7....with liberty and justice for all: Negotiating Freedom and Fairness in the American Income Distribution, Janet E. Kodors 8.A New Geography of Identity? Race, Ethnicity and American Citizenship, Benjamin Forest 9.Landscape, Aesthetics and Power, James S. Duncan and David R. Lambert 10.Mediascapes, Paul Adams Part IV.Conclusion 11.American Geographical Ironies: A Conclusion, Jonathan M. Smith Index About the Contributors

Editorial Reviews

It is very clear, covers a lot of ground without any pretence of all-inclusiveness and fills an important gap in the literature for those of us who teach about the United States regularly.

Progress in Human Geography

"This fine collection of essays offers a thoughtful, probing, and refreshing assesment of America's geographical character... American Space/American Place should be required reading for anyone interested in the contemporary geographies of the United States." — The Professional Geographer

From the Publisher