Citation Information
Article Title: United States
Website Name: Encyclopaedia Britannica
Publisher: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Date Published: 04 August 2019
URL: https://www.britannica.com/place/United-States
Access Date: August 08, 2019
Additional Reading
Geography
The land
(Landforms and geology): The standard work on the landform regions of the United States is William D. Thornbury, Regional Geomorphology of the United States (1965). Walter Sullivan, Landprints: On the Magnificent American Landscape (1984), is a lively, authoritative, and well-illustrated treatment. An elementary, illustrated textbook is E.C. Pirkle and W.H. Yoho, Natural Landscapes of the United States, 4th ed. (1985). Nevin M. Fenneman, Physiography of Western United States (1931), and Physiography of Eastern United States (1938), are exhaustive and still standard references. William L. Graf (ed.), Geomorphic Systems of North America (1987), is a highly technical discussion. Recommended atlases include Charles O. Paullin, Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States (1932, reprinted 1975); and Geological Survey (U.S.), The National Atlas of the United States of America (1970).
(Climate): Stephen S. Visher, Climatic Atlas of the United States (1954, reprinted 1966), contains more than 1,000 maps. United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Climates of the United States, 2nd ed., 2 vol. (1980), makes available physical and climatic data in narrative, tabular, and map form. Scholarly discussions are found in Reid A. Bryson and F. Kenneth Hare (eds.), Climates of North America (1974).
(Plant and animal life): An authoritative regional treatment of plant and animal ecology is Victor E. Shelford, The Ecology of North America (1963, reprinted 1978). Michael G. Barbour and William Dwight Billings (eds.), North American Terrestrial Vegetation (1988), covers all major types. The relationship between climate and natural vegetation is obvious but far from simple; the most ambitious cartographic attempt to correlate them in a North American setting is explained in Robert G. Bailey (comp.), Description of the Ecoregions of the United States (1978).
(Human geography): A general text covering the human geography of the continent is J. Wreford Watson, North America, Its Countries and Regions, rev. ed. (1967). D.W. Meinig, The Shaping of America, vol. 1, Atlantic America, 1492–1800 (1986), is indispensable for an understanding of the origins of America’s human geography. Joel Garreau, The Nine Nations of North America (1981), is a lively, highly readable description of the emerging socioeconomic regions.
(Landscape and land use): Stephen S. Birdsall and John W. Florin, Regional Landscapes of the United States and Canada, 3rd ed. (1985), is a general introduction. John R. Stilgoe, Common Landscape of America, 1580 to 1845 (1982), offers a valuable account of the early evolution of settlement. John Brinckerhoff Jackson, Discovering the Vernacular Landscape (1984), delves into the meaning of everyday man-made environments. The growth and development of America’s cities and towns are detailed in Alexander B. Callow, Jr. (ed.), American Urban History, 3rd ed. (1982); and Richard Lingeman, Small Town America: A Narrative History, 1620–the Present (1980). Peirce F. Lewis Wilbur Zelinsky
The people
The Statistical Abstract of the United States, published annually by the United States Bureau of the Census, is the standard summary of statistics on the country’s social, political, and economic composition. Interpretations of demographic data include Edward G. Stockwell, Population and People (1968); and Richard M. Scammon and Ben J. Wattenberg, The Real Majority (1970). For an analysis of national values, a classic account is Gunnar Myrdal, An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy, 2 vol. (1944, reprinted 1975). Inquiries into the nature of American society include Seymour Martin Lipset, American Exceptionalism: A Double-Edged Sword (1996); and Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (2000). Immigration is discussed in John Isbister, The Immigration Debate: Remaking America (1996); and Joel Millman, The Other Americans: How Immigrants Renew Our Country, Our Economy, and Our Values (1997). Oscar Handlin, The Uprooted, 2nd ed. enlarged (1973), covers the era of mass immigration, 1860–1920. Examinations of contemporary American minority groups include Stephan Thernstorm (ed.), Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups (1980); and Frank D. Bean and W. Parker Frisbie (eds.), The Demography of Racial and Ethnic Groups (1978). Ethnic patterns are treated in James Paul Allen and Eugene James Turner, We the People: An Atlas of America’s Ethnic Diversity (1988). Oscar Handlin