Negative Positive
Title: a blend of geographic, business and urban history
Review: I bought this book during a business trip to Chicago. Late on a clear summers day I started reading as we flew west high above Cronon's America. I was still reading at L.A. and I finished it somewhere over the South Pacific as we were close to home. Its really economic geography/history with maps. Some of the analysis is dated and suggests an historian playing in an unfamiliar field e.g. Cronon spends some time developing the von Thunen rings theory of urban growth. This was considered to be a deterministic and flawed theory by my grad. geography teachers 20yrs ago . But, a book I enjoyed and reopened for me an interest in landscape transformation and urban history. You should also try Fernand Braudel's books the "commerce and civilisation" series of 3 - wonderful readable stuff on a bigger geographic scale but in a similar vein.
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