The current cycle of urban growth dates from the 1970s and is likely to persist into the 2020s. Some of the world's most eminent urban geographers bring their expertise to bear on the American urban scene. They describe how cities have evolved, assess their current characters, and look ahead to the momentous changes yet to come.

Have you ever wondered why Minnesota's forests grow in the north and not in the West? Why gaming casinos are prospering? Why producers raise chickens instead of cows? Why some towns grow while others fail? Minnesota's natural wonders have had an effect on and been changed by the people who call this complex mosaic of lakes and forests, rivers and fields home. Through engaging, in-depth text and copious illustrations, John Fraser Hart and Susy Svatek Ziegler explore the human and environmental characteristics that define the state in "Landscapes of Minnesota,"
Illustrated with hundreds of maps and color photographs that reveal the changing character of Minnesota, this stunning geography traces the development of the state's natural environment, how the land formations, plants, and animals became a part of its fabric, and how they have changed over time. Focusing on small towns, the authors document patterns of growth and decline, offering striking commentary on these once-key bastions of Minnesota-ness. Turning to the Twin Cities, they analyze the expanding urban arc and the surprising growth of a baby boomer retirement belt. "Landscapes of Minnesota" explores how the lives and livelihoods of Minnesotans have affected what the state has become and what it will one day be.
John Fraser Hart
is a professor of geography at the University of Minnesota and a Guggenheim Fellow. Susy Svatek Ziegler is an assistant professor of geography at the University of Minnesota and a Fulbright Scholar.

John Fraser Hart is one of America's best-known geographers and his prolific writings about the land and its variegated character are elegant and informed. In "A Love of the Land", geographer John C. Hudson has gathered a collection of Hart's seminal essays from the last fifty years, which have received wide literary and scholarly acclaim.The thirteen essays collected in this volume reveal the rich breadth of Hart's work. In these pieces, Hart meditates on the meaning of geographical study, suburban sprawl, the contemporary uses of land and space, and changes wrought on rural landscapes by the modernization of farms and the growth of industrial agriculture. Whether writing about sheep farming in the British moorlands, the history of the Cotton Belt in the American South, or the industrialization of livestock production, Hart vividly narrates the age-old story of humans and their deep ties to the land, as he deftly blends facts and analysis with engaging anecdotes of his and others' experiences. "A Love of the Land" will be essential reading not only for geography students and scholars but also for those interested in how geography and place impact our lives.