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Ellen Semple’s Influences of Geographic Environment (1911) -- a treatise on what would later be called environmental determinism -- coincided with the emergence of geography as an independent academic discipline in North America and Britain. Highly controversial and written by one of America’s first female professional geographers, it was considered by some a monument to Semple’s scholarship and erudition, while for others it was conceptually flawed. And yet its influence on the development and direction of the new discipline of geography was profound. Innes Keighren explains why Influences... was encountered differently by different people, at different times and in different places, and reveals why the book aroused the passions it did. The result is a pioneering work that provides a wholesale re-visioning of the way in which geographical knowledge is disseminated.
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Innes M. Keighren was until recently Research Associate at the Institute of Geography and the Centre for the History of the Book at the University of Edinburgh. He is now Lecturer in Human Geography at Royal Holloway, University of London.
TAURIS HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY SERIES Series Editor: Robert Mayhew, University of Bristol Though long established as a field of inquiry, historical geography has changed dramatically in recent years becoming a driving force in the development of many of the new agendas of contemporary geography. Dialogues with historians of science, art historians and literary scholars have revitalised the history of geographical thought, and a new, vibrant, pluralistic culture of scholarship has emerged. The Tauris Historical Geography series provides an international forum for the publication of scholarly work that encapsulates and furthers these new developments. Editorial Board: David Armitage, Harvard University. Jeremy Black, Exeter University. Laura Cameron, Queen’s University, Ontario. Felix Driver, Royal Holloway, University of London. Michael Heffernan, Nottingham University. Nuala Johnson, Queen’s University, Belfast. David Livingstone, Queen’s University, Belfast. David Matless, Nottingham University. Miles Ogborn, Queen Mary, University of London. David Robinson, Syracuse University. Charles Withers, Edinburgh University. Brenda Yeoh, National University of Singapore. Published and forthcoming in the Series: 1. Zambesi: David Livingstone and Expeditionary Science in Africa by Lawrence Dritsas 2. New Spaces of Exploration: Geographies of Discovery in the Twentieth Century by Simon Naylor and James Ryan (eds) 3. Scriptural Geography: Portraying the Holy Land by Edwin Aiken 4. Bringing Geography to Book: Ellen Semple and the Reception of Geographical Knowledge by Innes M. Keighren 5. Enlightenment, Modernity and Science: Geographies of Scientific Culture in Georgian England by Paul Elliot 6. Dead Sea Level: Science, Exploration and Imperial Interests in the Near East by Haim Goren
Bringing Geography to Book Ellen Semple and the Reception of Geographical Knowledge
INNES M. KEIGHREN
Published in 2010 by I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd 6 Salem Road, London W2 4BU 175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010 www.ibtauris.com Distributed in the United States and Canada Exclusively by Palgrave Macmillan 175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010 Copyright © 2010 Innes M. Keighren The right of Innes M. Keighren to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher Tauris Historical Geography: 4 ISBN: 978 1 84885 141 2 A full CIP r