The ‘Best American Travel Writing 2019’ features pieces on either dangerous places or the pursuit of the exotic as well-informed as they are well-written.
Geography Book Reviews
Human Geography
Review | Peary’s Arctic Quest
Peary’s Arctic Quest: Untold Stories from Robert E. Peary’s North Pole Expeditions is both a rigorous scholarly work and a popular exposition of Robert Peary’s Arctic achievements and his legacy.
Human Geography
Review | On the Plain of Snakes: A Mexican Journey
In On the Plain of Snakes: A Mexican Journey, Theroux is determined to experience the real Mexico, as a traveler, not a tourist.
Maps and GIS
Review | Sprawlball: A Visual Tour of the New Era of the NBA
Sprawlball demonstrates how basketball – that is, its professional incarnation in the NBA – has become a game of analytics.
Human Geography
Review | Horizon
Horizon by Barry Lopez can, perhaps, be best described as an intellectual autobiography by means of geography and the abiding truths of the natural world.
Human Geography
Review | Who Owns England?
The concentration of wealth – in England, particularly landed wealth – is a most serious issue.
Maps and GIS
Review | Scotland: Defending the Nation, Mapping the Military Landscape
‘Scotland: Defending the Nation, Mapping the Military Landscape’ is a comprehensive history of modern Scotland illustrated through such maps.
Physical Geography
Review | There is No Planet B: A Handbook for the Make or Break Years
Mike Berners-Lee presents an ‘evidence-based practical guide to the make or break choices we face now’ in the Anthropocene age.
Geography 101
Review | Maps (Poetry)
This slim book reminds us that maps are not just lines and images on a surface – on paper or a globe – they are also emotional passages into the remembering and the meaning of our lives.
Geography 101, Human Geography
Review | The Longest Line on the Map
This book tells the story of how and why the Pan-American Highway was conceived and, poignantly, the why of a stubborn gap that remains unconnected.
Maps and GIS
Review | Oxford Atlas of the World, 25th Edition
The Oxford Atlas of the World, 25th edition, has a new feature on Tourism and Travel and new maps on armed conflicts around the world, as well as a new map on Antarctica using the latest data from the British Antarctic Survey.
Geography 101
Review | Medieval Ireland
Medieval Ireland is Clare Downham’s comprehensive synthesis of the current state-of-play of the history of medieval Ireland, 400-1500 A.D.