WorldMinds: Geographical Perspectives on 100 Problems: Commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the Association of American Geographers 1904–2004

Geography today is a vibrant amalgam of theories, methods, and data about past, current, and emerging worlds. Geography and the geographers who produce it dwell at the intersection of the natural sciences, the social sciences, and the humanities, and various admixtures of their theories, methods, and data constitute the 100 chapters included in WorldMinds. Arrayed under the rubrics of politics and power, human wellbeing, cities, livelihood, ecosystems, human environment interactions, hazards, natural systems, new methods, and human perceptions, these 100 short essays reveal and exemplify the conceptual and topical richness of contemporary North American geography. As is evident in these rubrics and essays, geography today is a many splendored enterprise ranging, as the editors note, "from feminist deconstruc tion to fluvial geomorphology." Geographers have something strikingly valuable to say about many, if not most of the problems that confront indi viduals and groups in locales and regions ranging from the plots of smallholders to the entire globe. The diverse chapters of WorldMinds well illustrate some of the key geographical perspectives that contribute usefully to the broader understanding of common problems.