The Historical Geography Imperative
Abstract The fortieth anniversary of Ralph Brown's Historical Geography of the United States provides an appropriate occasion to review some of the accomplishments and status of North American historical geography. This small but expanding field has produced a very substantial literature, including several new landmark publications during the past year. Historical geographers have earned high respect in the large world of historical scholarship and are participating in the general reassessment of national histories. They have also been successfully reaching out to a broader public. However, despite such accomplishments and recognition outside geography, historical geography is seriously underrepresented in academic departments. Overcoming that incongruity is one of the obvious and essential ways of strengthening the dangerously weak field of American geography in general.