American Space/American Place : : Geographies of the Contemporary United States / / Jonathan M. Smith, John Agnew.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Edinburgh University Press Backlist eBook-Package 2013-2000
• VerfasserIn: Agnew, John,; Smith, Jonathan M.,
• MitwirkendeR: Adams, Paul C.,; Agnew, John A.,; Duncan, James S.,; Forest, Benjamin,; Jonas, Andrew E. G.,; Kodras, Janet E.,; Lambert, David R.,; Rigby, David L.,; Sharp, Joanne P.,; Smith, Jonathan M.,
• Place / Publishing House: Edinburgh : : Edinburgh University Press, , [2022]; ©2002
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (288 p.)

This book offers geographical perspectives on the condition of the United States at the outset of the twenty-first century. It compares the American ideals 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.The authors consider the contrast between ideal and reality at local, state, and national levels in education, health, and welfare, in community, race, gender, and class relations, in economic and industrial development, and in the use and exploitation of America's landscape. Each chapter addresses the issues through evidence of long-term and recent trends, and grounds its arguments in information.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.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- The authors -- 1. Introduction -- PART I ENVIRONMENTAL IDEALS AND REALITIES -- 2. The place of nature -- 3. The place of value -- PART II POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC DIMENSIONS OF THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE -- 4. America, frontier nation: From abstract space to worldly place -- 5. Local territories of government: From ideals to politics of place and scale -- 6. Urban and regional restructuring in the second half of the twentieth century -- PART III SOCIAL AND CULTURAL DIMENSIONS OF AMERICANNESS -- 7. "With liberty and justice for all": Negotiating freedom and fairness in the American income distribution -- 8. A new geography of identity? Race, ethnicity, and American citizenship -- 9. Landscape, aesthetics, and power -- 10. Mediascapes -- CONCLUSION -- 11. American geographical ironies: A conclusion -- Discussion questions -- Further reading -- Some useful websites -- Index