The Power of Place: Geography, Destiny, and Globalization's Rough Landscape [Paperback]

The world is not as mobile or as interconnected as we like to think. As Harm de Blij argues inThe Power of Place, in crucial ways--from the uneven distribution of natural resources to the unequal availability of opportunity--geography continues to hold billions of people in its grip. We are all born into natural and cultural environments that shape what we become, individually and collectively. From our mother tongue to our father's faith, from medical risks to natural hazards,wherewe start our journey has much to do with our destiny. Hundreds of millions of farmers in the river basins of Asia and Africa, and tens of millions of shepherds in isolated mountain valleys from the Andes to Kashmir, all live their lives much as their distant ancestors did, remote from the forces of globalization. Incorporating a series of persuasive maps, De Blij describes the tremendously varied environments across the planet and shows how migrations between them are comparatively rare. De Blij also looks at the ways we are redefining place so as to make its power even more potent than it has been, with troubling implications.

Preface
Acknowledgments
1. Globals, Locals, and Mobals
2. The Imperial Legacy of Language
3. The Fateful Geography of Religion
4. The Rough Topography of Human Health
5. Geography of Jeopardy
6. Places Open and Shut
7. Same Place, Divergent Destinies
8. Power and the City
9. Promise and Peril in the Provinces
10. Lowering the Barriers
Works Cited
Index

This meticulous analysis of the impact of everything from religious fundamentalism to the streamlining of world languages on these three groups will serve as an indispensable primer for serious policy makers. --Publishers Weekly