Southwest: Three Peoples in Geographical Change, 1600-1700 [I.E. 1600-1970,

by D.W. Meinig, Meinig

The Southwest is a distinctive place to the American mind but a somewhat blurred place on American maps, which is to say that everyone knows that there is a Southwest but there is little agreement as to just where it is.

Genres: History

164 pages, Hardcover

First published April 15, 1971

About the author

Donald William Meinig was an American geographer who made influential contributions to historical, regional, and cultural geography, and who served for decades as Maxwell Research Professor of Geography at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. Educated at Georgetown University and the University of Washington, he began his academic career at the University of Utah before holding a Fulbright position at the University of Adelaide in 1958, later joining Syracuse University in 1960, where he remained until his retirement in 2004. At Syracuse, he chaired the geography department, trained more than twenty doctoral students, and helped shape the Maxwell School. His scholarship reflected both western American and national themes, producing pioneering studies on the Mormon cultural region, Texas, and the Southwest, while his most ambitious work was the four-volume The Shaping of America, published over nearly two decades, offering a sweeping interpretation of the nation’s geographic development. He also collaborated with his former student John Garver on thematic regional maps for the National Geographic Society, reaching millions of readers. Meinig’s honors included Fulbright and Guggenheim fellowships, the Charles P. Daly Medal of the American Geographical Society, and election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the British Academy. His work combined rigorous scholarship with literary sensibility, leaving a lasting impact on geography.

Reviews

[Chris J · Rating 4 out of 5]

An example of really good regional geography. Must reading for anyone intersted in the American Southwest.