Earth Shapers: How Humans Mastered Geography and Remade the World

(Hardback, Main)

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'A wonderfully curious writer' OBSERVER'This is a book that reshapes our story of global human geography' PROFESSOR DANNY DORLINGMountains, meridians, rivers and borders; these are some of the features that carve up the world on our maps and in our minds. But geography is far less set in stone than we might believe and, over time, we have become experts at reshaping our surroundings.From the Qhapaq an, South America's 'Great Road', and the Panama Canal to Mozambique's railways and Korea's sacred Baekdu-daegan mountain range, Samson explores how we mould the world around us. And how, as we etch our needs onto the natural landscape, we alter the course of history.An immense work of cultural geography touching on ecology, sociology, history and politics, Earth Shapers argues that, far from being constrained by geography, we are instead its creators.

Reviews

A captivating and compelling account of how civilisations have made use of natural landscapes for their long-term benefit. From the astounding Incan road system to the building of Chicago and the Panama canal, humans have a long history of shaping the Earth to build connections between ourselves. Samson demonstrates how we are not always prisoners of geography, but increasingly it's masters -- Professor Lewis Dartnell, author of ORIGINS: How the Earth Shaped Human History
From railroads colonisers dreamed of building turning in projects designed by Africans, through to what travel routes will be used again when there is no longer a border within Korea, Earth Shapers tells stories that have been ignored because they do not fit the old narrative; a book that reshapes our story of global human geography -- Danny Dorling, 1971 Professor of Geography, University of Oxford
Accessible and erudite, Earth Shapers makes for a refreshing perspective on the relationship between human and physical geography. Ranging confidently from Chicago to Mozambique to Korea just as it travels across the history of technology, cities, nationalism, colonialism and liberation ... it is an original look at the geography of connection in an age where so much attention is given to the geography of division, to walls and borders -- Lewis Baston, author of Borderlines
This bold and rich collection ranges widely across five continents and an array of fascinating case studies, casting light on various meanings of geographical connectivity. Reading this book it's impossible not to learn something new -- Dr Sara Caputo, author of Tracks on the Ocean and Director of Studies in History and Senior Research Fellow, University of Cambridge
Modern geography is the geography of our personal, political and sociological souls. We urgently need to know what we are. Samson holds up a mirror, showing us ourselves reflected in what we've done. Fascinating, original and prescient -- Charles Foster, author of Cry of the Wild
Well researched and wide-ranging, this book joins the dots, showing the power of connections between places -- Cliff Hague OBE, Emeritus Professor of Planning and Spatial Development at Heriot-Watt University
Humans are inveterate environmental meddlers. No guide to their excesses is more eloquent, more learned, more surprising, more amusing or more convincing than Maxim Samson. His lively language and minatory message are as entertaining as they are unsettling -- Felipe Fernndez-Armesto, William P. Reynolds Professor of History, University of Notre Dame
Praise for INVISIBLE LINES * : *
An illuminating glimpse of the chain reactions of human and physical geography * Financial Times *
Fascinating...a truly original adventure into new ways of exploring a sense of place -- Simon Jenkins
A chance to see the world anew through the eyes of a wonderfully curious new writer * Observer *
Endlessly interesting * Spectator *
Old worlds enhanced, new worlds exposed and challenged ... a wise and thought-provoking series of raids across borders we thought we knew and others made visible to us, by Maxim Samson's forensic eye -- Iain Sinclair
Invisible Lines is a fascinating, detailed exploration of the hidden boundaries that carve up the world ... it is a pleasure to accompany Samson to the Malaria Belt, inside eruvim (markers of a single domestic space within which fewer Sabbath regulations apply), or along the border of Portugal to discover why vultures prefer not to cross it * Telegraph *
Utterly engrossing! Samson's literary atlas of the world's unseen boundaries and how they've shaped our lives demands to be read -- Professor Lewis Dartnell, author of Origins: How the Earth Shaped Human History
A fascinating exploration of the lesser-known and more subtle borders across the earth and the surprising ways in which they shape our lives * i news *

Author Bio

Maxim Samson is a geographer and the author of Invisible Lines: Boundaries and Belts That Define the World. An award-winning educator and researcher, he has taught and presented keynote lectures at universities in the United Kingdom, the United States and Indonesia. He is an adjunct professor at DePaul University in Chicago, specialising in cultural geography and religion. In his free time, he enjoys long-distance running and exploring the culture and language of his favourite country, Indonesia.