ABSTRACT
The Routledge Companion to the American Landscape provides a comprehensive overview of the American landscape in a way fit for the twenty-first century, not only in its topical and regional scope but also in its methodological and disciplinary diversity.
Critically surveying the contemporary scholarship on the American landscape, this companion brings together scholars from the social sciences and humanities who focus their work on understanding the polyphonic evolution of the United States’ landscape. It simultaneously assesses the development of the US landscape as well as the scholarly thought that has driven innovation and continued research about that landscape. Four broad sections focus on key areas of scholarship: environmental landscapes, social, cultural, and popular identities in the landscape, political landscapes, and urban/economic landscapes. A special essay, "American Landscapes Under Siege" and accompanying short case studies call attention to the legacies and realities of race in the American landscape, bridging the discussion of social and political landscapes.
This companion offers an invaluable and up-to-date guide for scholars and graduate students to current thinking across the range of disciplines which converge in the study of place, including Geography, Cultural Studies, and History as well as the interdisciplinary fields of American Studies, Environmental Studies, and Planning.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part I|2 pages
Environmental Landscapes
part II|108 pages
Social, Cultural, and Popular Identities in the American Landscape
chapter 7|10 pages
“This is Not the America I Know”
chapter 14|13 pages
From Post-Scarcity Utopia to Zombie-Infested Hellscape
chapter |14 pages
Special Essay Bridging Social and Political Landscapes
part III|80 pages
US Political Landscapes
chapter 17|13 pages
(De)constructing the Grid
chapter 19|14 pages
America's Contemporary Commemorative Landscapes
part IV|3 pages
Urban and Economic Landscapes in the US