Abstract
THERE has long been need for a text-book on South American economic geography, since much that has been written on this subject is not free from bias and is far from trustworthy. In this volume, Prof. Whitbeck, who has the necessary qualification of personal experience of South America and a wide outlook, has largely supplied the want. The physical background is merely sketched and there is little explanation of climatic processes. These are the weak sides of the book. But the economic problems are ably handled, and the human element, which is of great significance, is kept well in the foreground. States are selected as geographical entities, but within the larger States natural regions are recognised. National boundaries, traditions, and even prejudice, play too important a part in the economic life of any State to be neglected, as must happen if natural or geographical regions are chosen as the larger units for treatment. The Falkland Islands may be of small importance, but they merit more than one casual reference, at least if the book is to be used in Great Britain. There are admirable illustrations and sketch-maps and copious bibliographies, while the text shows a pleasing absence of New World phraseology.
Economic Geography of South America.
Prof.
R. H.
Whitbeck
By. Pp. vii + 430. (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc.; London: McGraw-Hill Publishing Co., Ltd., 1926.) 17s. 6d. net.
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Economic Geography of South America . Nature 118, 115 (1926). https://doi.org/10.1038/118115c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/118115c0