Why read The Myth of Continents?

Book cover of The Myth of Continents: A Critique of Metageography

Book description

In this thoughtful and engaging critique, geographer Martin W. Lewis and historian Karen Wigen reexamine the basic geographical divisions we take for granted, and challenge the unconscious spatial frameworks that govern the way we perceive the world. Arguing that notions of East vs. West, First World vs. Third World, and…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Myth of Continents as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Laura Hostetler

Author

In this fascinating and highly readable account of how we have come to think of the globe, Martin and Lewis (a geographer and historian respectively) introduce their reader to the historical construction, contingencies, and inconsistencies of our basic geographical building blocks. On what basis has the world been divided up into “east,” and “west,” and how, for example, did Japan come to be considered part of the “West?” Why do we think of continents as fixed entities rather than as conceptual categories for thinking about both space and culture? How do these categories shape our continuing perception of geographic space…

From Laura's list on The best reads for understanding geo-politics and the rise of the nation state in China from the late Ming - 20th century.