Fundamentals of World Regional Geography,
4th Edition

1. Objectives and Tools of World Regional Geography.
2. Physical Processes and World Regions.
3. Human Processes and World Regions.
4. Europe.
5. Russia and the Near Abroad.
6. The Middle East and North Africa.
7. South and East Asia.
8. Oceania.
9. Sub-Saharan Africa.
10. Latin America.
11. The United States and Canada.

• Joseph J. Hobbs

  Joseph J. Hobbs, a professor of geography at the University of Missouri-Columbia, is a Middle East specialist with many years of field research on Bedouin peoples and biogeographies of the deserts of Egypt and the Arabian Peninsula. Growing up in Saudi Arabia and India sparked his interest in the region, and he served as the team leader of the Bedouin Support Program, which identified opportunities and benefits for local people in the St. Katherine National Park project in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. Dr. Hobbs' research interests include indigenous peoples' engagement in protected areas in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Central America; human uses of caves worldwide; Arctic climate change; sacred places; and indigenous religions of Vietnam. He is the author of BEDOUIN LIFE IN THE EGYPTIAN WILDERNESS and MOUNT SINAI (both University of Texas Press), co-author of THE BIRDS OF EGYPT (Oxford University Press) and co-editor and author of DANGEROUS HARVEST: DRUG PLANTS AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF INDIGENOUS LANDSCAPES (Oxford). The recipient of the University of Missouri's highest teaching award -- the Kemper Fellowship -- Dr. Hobbs has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in world regional geography, environmental geography, the geography of the Middle East, the geography of caves, the geography of global current events, the geographies of drugs and terrorism, and geopolitics, as well as a field course on the ancient Maya geography of Belize. In summers from 1984 to 1999, he led "adventure travel" tours to remote areas in Latin America, Africa, the Indian Ocean, Asia, Europe and the High Arctic. Dr. Hobbs received his B.A. from the University of California Santa Cruz in 1978 and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin in 1980 and 1986, respectively. He and wife Cindy live with an animal menagerie in Missouri.

• Critical content of previous editions is retained, but this is the most extensive revision to date. Almost all of the maps are new or newly designed. Cartographer Andrew Dolan and the author tie the maps tightly to the content so students learn efficiently, while developing skills interpreting maps.

• The book is more thematic than in previous editions. Fritz Gritzner’s big geographic question, “What is where, why there, and why care?,” leads students to concepts and themes that span the world’s regions. The definitive “18 Standards of Geography” authored by the National Council for Geographic Education served as a constant reference in writing the text.

• A new feature entitled “Life in . . . ,” where a resident of that region discusses land and life in a particular country, offers students a unique insight into one person’s real life experiences.

• To appreciate how our complex world works today, it is vital to have a solid grounding in the environmental, cultural, historic, economic, and geopolitical contexts of the world’s regions and nations. Fundamentals of World Regional Geography establishes that foundation and offers you an opportunity to explore the events, issues, and landscapes of the world in more detail. Cartographer Andrew Dolan and the author tie the maps tightly to the content so you learn efficiently, while building important skills interpreting maps.

• A new feature entitled “Life in . . . ,” where a resident of that region discusses land and life in a particular country, offers a unique insight into one person’s real-life experiences.

• GEOGRAPHY OF boxes feature various focal points of geography, delving into cultural specifics of each region and bringing consistent attention to issues of ethnicity, language, and religion. Some topics include, Geography of Energy, Geography of Drug Trafficking, Medical Geography, Geography of the Sacred, and Geography of Terrorism.

• REGIONAL PERSPECTIVES illustrate the relevance of geographic issues that work their influence across all or part of a region.

• THEMATIC MAPS centered around topics like language, religion, and ethnicity allow students to quickly draw cultural and regional comparisons.

• PROBLEM LANDSCAPE boxes incorporate case studies on land use, water rights, boundary disputes, and other thematic conflicts to help students understand how geographic issues underlie many of the world’s most contentious problems. Topics include Dirty Diamonds, the Troubled Fields of Land Reform, and Chechnya.

• GEOGRAPHY OF boxes feature various focal points of geography, delving into cultural specifics of each region and bringing consistent attention to issues of ethnicity, language, and religion. Some topics include, Geography of Energy, Geography of Drug Trafficking, Medical Geography, Geography of the Sacred, and Geography of Terrorism.

• REGIONAL PERSPECTIVES illustrate the relevance of geographic issues that work their influence across all or part of a region.

• THEMATIC MAPS centered around topics like language, religion, and ethnicity allow students to quickly draw cultural and regional comparisons.

• PROBLEM LANDSCAPE boxes incorporate case studies on land use, water rights, boundary disputes, and other thematic conflicts to help students understand how geographic issues underlie many of the world’s most contentious problems. Topics include Dirty Diamonds, the Troubled Fields of Land Reform, and Chechnya.

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