Human Geography ― People and the Environment

This two-volume set acts as both a reference and an introduction to human geography, offering dozens of short essays that collectively survey how the environment influences the cultural, political, and economic differences that define, divide, and unite humanity. It is general enough for high school or early college students, with some thought given to Advanced Placement studies. Maps are extensively featured and lengthy consideration is given to the social ramifications of map-making. Entries range from 1-5 pages and are regularly structured with an introduction, sidebars, pull quotes, current applications, and a bibliography. They are organized into seven parts. The first volume covers the fundamentals of human geography; thinking about populations, migration, and models of growth and demographic transition; cultural geography, with whole chapters devoted to religion and language; political geography, with an exclusive focus on "nations". The second volume focuses more on the built environment with sections on agricultural and rural geography, economic and industrial geography, and urban geography. A chronology of events and processes of geographic consequence to humans appears in the beginning of both volumes. K. Lee Lerner is a former AP physics/biology/chemistry teacher and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner is a registered nurse. Annotation c2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)