The Routledge Companion to the American Landscape

The Routledge Companion to the American Landscape provides a comprehensive overview of the American landscape in a way fit for the twenty-first century, not only in its topical and regional scope but also in its methodological and disciplinary diversity.

Critically surveying the contemporary scholarship on the American landscape, this companion brings together scholars from the social sciences and humanities who focus their work on understanding the polyphonic evolution of the United States? landscape. It simultaneously assesses the development of the US landscape as well as the scholarly thought that has driven innovation and continued research about that landscape. Four broad sections focus on key areas of scholarship: environmental landscapes, social, cultural, and popular identities in the landscape, political landscapes, and urban/economic landscapes. A special essay, "American Landscapes Under Siege" and accompanying short case studies call attention to the legacies and realities of race in the American landscape, bridging the discussion of social and political landscapes.

This companion offers an invaluable and up-to-date guide for scholars and graduate students to current thinking across the range of disciplines which converge in the study of place, including Geography, Cultural Studies, and History as well as the interdisciplinary fields of American Studies, Environmental Studies, and Planning.

"The remarkable volume brings together some of the most thoughtful, insightful scholars of the American landscape in a book that provides a revealing portrait into the vitality and relevance of landscape study. The book is full of thought-provoking insights into the changing American scene. It serves as a powerful reminder of why ?reading the landscape? is such a valuable component of efforts to understand the cultural, social, and political world we inhabit."

Alec Murphy, University of Oregon, USA.