The Art and Science of Geography: U.S. and Soviet Perspectives

Responding to the changes taking place in the post-Cold War era, the editors of this volume have brought together more than forty distinguished Soviet and U.S. geographers to redefine geography as a discipline and to examine its relationship to other sciences and to the arts. Challenging inevitable barriers of language and of differing social, cultural, and scientific backgrounds, each contributor provides personal insight and perspective, shedding unique light onto this often poorly understood discipline. The book covers a broad sweep of issues, ranging from the methods of geography to examples of practical work done by geographers in Russia and the former republics and the United States. The contributors explore and define advances in quantitative technique, increasingly sophisticated methodology, and the essential relationship between these changes and theory building. They also examine the application of geography in Soviet and U.S. schools as well as the demands that shifting world events are placing on the discipline. The discussions not only reveal the individual perspectives of each geographer but also provide a unique forum for the exploration of similarities and differences within the world’s two largest geographic communities. The volume concludes with an afterword by Torsten Hager strand.