Across This Land

Based on decades of research and written in clear, concise prose by one of the foremost geographers in North America, John C. Hudson's Across This Land is a comprehensive regional geography of the North American continent. Dividing the terrain into ten regions, which are then subdivided into twenty-seven smaller areas, Hudson's brisk narrative reveals the dynamic processes of each area's distinctive place-specific characteristics. Focusing on how human activities have shaped and have been shaped by the natural environment, Hudson considers physical, political, and historical geography. He also highlights related topics, including resource exploitation, economic development, and population change.

Praised in its first edition as a readable and reliable interpretation of United States and Canadian geography, the revised Across This Land retains these strengths while adding substantial new material. Incorporating the latest available population and economic data, this thoroughly updated edition includes

- reflections on new developments, such as resource schemes, Native governments in Atlantic Canada, and the role of climate change in the Arctic
- a new section focused on the US Pacific insular territories west of Hawaii
- evolving views of oil and gas production resulting from the introduction of hydraulic fracturing
- revised text and maps involving agricultural production based on the 2017 Census of Agriculture
- current place names
- more than 130 photographs

The most extensive regional geography of the North American continent on the market, Hudson's Across This Land will continue as the standard text in geography courses dealing with Canada and the United States, as well as a popular reference work for scholars, students, and lay readers.

"Geographer John C. Hudson provides a comprehensive regional geography of North America (US and Canada) in the second edition of Across This Land. The new edition incorporates the latest data available and updated place names, along with general revisions throughout. He divides the continent into ten regions: Atlantic Canada and Quebec, the Northeast, the Upland South, the Lowland South, the Middle West, the Central Plains, the Western Plains and Rocky Mountains, the Intermountain West, the North, and the Pacific Realm. These regions are then subdivided into twenty-seven smaller areas. Hudson considers the physical, political, human, and historical geography of each"--
John C. Hudson is a professor of geography and director of the Program in Environmental Sciences at Northwestern University and the first recipient of the John Brinckerhoff Jackson Prize for popular books in American human geography, awarded by the Association of American Geographers.

"A readable and informative volume that is not limited to one phase of geography, but which includes the physical, historical, economic, human, and political aspects of the topic."

--American Reference Books Annual

"A well-written story of a land and people, enhanced by photographs taken over a 20-year period. The narrative is tied to a series of fascinating and uncluttered maps, which enable readers to relate place and circumstance... This regional study of the geography of North America is as comprehensive as it is excellent."

--Choice

"An elegantly written and concise regional geography... The result accomplishes the best intent of regional geography--to shape the character of the whole through careful description of its parts."

--Annals of Iowa

"Extensive emphasis on the history and politics of each region makes it unique and outstanding. The book offers a new direction for teaching the regional geography of the United States and Canada."

--American Review of Canadian Studies

"The delicious historical details are interspersed with sweeping generalizations that capture the essence of each region and sub-region... It's such good reading and such a valuable resource that Across This Land is an essential book in the personal library of any well-read American or Canadian."

--Wisconsin Magazine of History

"This book is a genuine tour de force. Light years ahead of existing textbooks, Across This Land is a true regional geography that will benefit anyone who reads it."

--John Fraser Hart, University of Minnesota

"This fact-packed, well-organized and felicitously written book goes miles beyond the mere recitation of state capitals. Drawing upon his nearly 30 years of teaching university-level geography, Hudson offers a comprehensive history of the geological, agricultural, topographical, industrial, social and political development of the United States and Canada."

--Northwestern