“Overall, Boyle provides a concise and strongly organized book for the introductory university student. His many years of teaching and learning the subject are demonstrated in this book being accessible, engaging, and insightful. While it emphasizes the Western perspective (Boyle argues his rationale on p. xxiii), any teacher needing just such a concise foundational text would do well to consider this one.” (The Canadian Geographer, Le Géographe canadien, 1 October 2015)
“Overall, Boyle provides a concise and strongly organized book for the introductory university student. His many years of teaching and learning the subject are demonstrated in this book being accessible, engaging, and insightful. While it emphasizes the Western perspective (Boyle argues his rationale on p. xxiii), any teacher needing just such a concise foundational text would do well to consider this one.” (The Canadian Geographer, Le Géographe canadien, 1 October 2015)
Review
An excellent textbook for introductory courses in Human Geography. The thematic and historical organization is a most welcome change from the usual subdisciplinary frameworks.
Professor Patricia Wood, York University, Toronto
In this textbook, Mark Boyle combines his broad and deep understanding of the discipline of Human Geography with his great passion and enthusiasm for education and teaching. With the undergraduate student in mind, he has delivered a concise yet complete overview of what Human Geography is all about. Students who want to grasp the contemporary global political turmoil have to read this introduction to Human Geography.
Professor Guy Baeten, Lund University
From the Publisher
Mark Boyle is Professor of Geography and Director of the National Institute for Regional and Spatial Analyses (NIRSA) at the National University of Ireland Maynooth. He has taught introductory and advanced courses in Human Geography for more than twenty years. He has also researched and published widely in the fields of migration, diaspora and development, and spatial planning and urban and regional development.
From the Inside Flap
Using the story of the rise and faltering of the West as its backdrop, this book provides for beginning students a clear and concise introduction to Human Geography, including its key concepts, seminal thinkers and their theories, contemporary debates, and celebrated case studies.
Mark Boyle, a respected academic with more than 20 years’ of experience researching and teaching the subject, explores the significance of the ascendance and degeneration of the West since the fifteenth century in the shaping of the key demographic, environmental, social, economic, political, and cultural processes active in the world today. He documents important thinkers, debates, and theories in an accessible manner, with a focus on discerning the inherent Western bias in these ideas. Also incorporated are case studies examining the ways in which geographical processes operate in non-Western societies, including those in Asia, the Middle East, and South America.
The book is armed with array of pedagogical resources including learning objectives, essay questions, key ideas, and a glossary. A website at www.wiley.com/go/boyle (available on publication) includes chapter-by-chapter PowerPoint slides for instructors, alongside time-saving quizzes, questions, resources, and podcasts for students.
About the Author
Mark Boyle is Professor of Geography and Director of the National Institute for Regional and Spatial Analyses (NIRSA) at the National University of Ireland Maynooth. He has taught introductory and advanced courses in Human Geography for more than twenty years. He has also researched and published widely in the fields of migration, diaspora and development, and spatial planning and urban and regional development.
