Landscapes of Minnesota: A Geography | 
| Authors: John Fraser Hart, Susy Svatek Ziegler
Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society Press
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $15.00
You Save: $9.95 (40%)
New (18) Used (5) from $5.73
Avg. Customer Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 1028449
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 328
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.5
Dimensions (in): 10 x 7.9 x 1
ISBN: 0873515919
Dewey Decimal Number: 917.7602
EAN: 9780873515917
ASIN: 0873515919
Publication Date: March 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: NEW; This book is clean & bright, with no creases, no tears, & no markings. Never been opened! In stock, ready to ship now!
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Have you ever wondered why Minnesota's forests grow in the north and not in the West? Why gaming casinos are prospering? Why producers raise chickens instead of cows? Why some towns grow while others fail? Minnesota's natural wonders have had an effect on and been changed by the people who call this complex mosaic of lakes and forests, rivers and fields home. Through engaging, in-depth text and copious illustrations, John Fraser Hart and Susy Svatek Ziegler explore the human and environmental characteristics that define the state in Landscapes of Minnesota.
Illustrated with hundreds of maps and color photographs that reveal the changing character of Minnesota, this stunning geography traces the development of the state's natural environment, how the land formations, plants, and animals became a part of its fabric, and how they have changed over time. Focusing on small towns, the authors document patterns of growth and decline, offering striking commentary on these once-key bastions of Minnesota-ness. Turning to the Twin Cities, they analyze the expanding urban arc and the surprising growth of a baby boomer retirement belt. Landscapes of Minnesota explores how the lives and livelihoods of Minnesotans have affected what the state has become and what it will one day be.
John Fraser Hart
is a professor of geography at the University of Minnesota and a Guggenheim Fellow. Susy Svatek Ziegler is an assistant professor of geography at the University of Minnesota and a Fulbright Scholar.
|
| Customer Reviews:
 Landscapes of Minnesota July 6, 2008
This book is wonderful. I actually had the opportunity to take a class from Professor Hart back in the early 1980s, and I thought he was a solid professor of geography. This book confirms that.
Geographers must be multidisciplinarians and Professor Hart is no exceptions. History, ecology, agronomy, economics, geology, biology, climatology, meteorology, sociology all make their way into this book and into the realm of geography. The skill of the geographer is to acknowledge all of these other disciplines and deal with them appropriately. Professor Hart does this with a master's touch.
I did pick up on three errors, however. On page 66 Hart describes the Treaty of Utrecht of 1815. Utrecht was signed in 1713, the Congress of Vienna was in 1815. On page 268 he writes that the Metrodome opened in 1989, when in fact it opened in 1982. Finally, on page 272 he writes that 3M's corporate headquarters are in Washington County, Minnesota when in fact it is in Maplewood in Ramsey County. But these oversights do not detract from an otherwise spectacular book.
I would expect that this book will become the standard college textbook for courses in Minnesota geography for years to come.
 Inclusive geography of Minnesota April 18, 2008
Landscapes of Minnesota is an overview of the geology, history, and human geography of Minnesota. It is an inclusive geography that moves quickly from discussing ancient glacial lakes to modern dairy farming practices. Good maps and helpful graphs abound and are the strongest points of this book.
The book starts with chapters on climatology, geology, and ecology. Some of this is specific to Minnesota, but some reads like a general high school earth science textbook. The next five chapters discuss Minnesota's history in rough chronological order. Most of the subsequent chapters describe a specific region of state. Discussion of farming practices can be found in the chapters on agricultural regions. An analysis of town growth rates and a few pages full of demographic maps separate the regions. Finally, a somewhat pessimistic and opinionated conclusion closes the book.
An ideal template and example for similar studies of other states. April 4, 2008
The geography of a land is as important as its climate in determining the kind of ecosystems it will support, the growth patterns of the human populace and their activities, the sort of lives and livelihoods that will be fostered. To understand a state's history, it is always useful to understand its geography. The collaborative work of John Fraser Hart (Professor of Geography, University of Minnesota) and Susy Svatek Ziegler (Assistant Professor of Geography, University of Minnesota), "Landscapes Of Minnesota" is a comprehensive survey of this upper Midwest state's geography, including its impact upon the people, the land, and the Minnesota economy. The informed and informative text is enhanced for the reader with the added inclusion of 110 color photographs, 100 maps, 30 graphs, 10 line drawings, tables, extensive notes, a glossary, and an index. Also available in a hardcover edition (9780873516112, $34.95), "Landscapes Of Minnesota" is a work of impressive scholarship and ideal as a textbook. While highly recommended for personal, academic and community library reference collections, "Landscapes of Minnesota" would also serve as an ideal template and example for similar studies of other states.
|
|
|
