Australia: A Study Of Warm Environments And Their Effect On British Settlement
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Chipped and worn with some minor damage
Pages: Good
Few geographers of the twentieth century shaped the understanding of a continent quite like Griffith Taylor did with Australia: A Study of Warm Environments and Their Effect on British Settlement. This landmark work presents a rigorous geographical and environmental analysis of the Australian continent, arguing that climate, landscape, and natural conditions played a decisive and often underestimated role in determining where and how British settlers established communities across the vast land. Taylor charts the relationship between Australia's distinctive warm and arid environments — from its sun-scorched interior plains to its more temperate coastal fringes — and the patterns of human settlement that emerged from colonial enterprise. Taylor, one of the most prominent and at times controversial geographers of his era, writes with scientific authority and unflinching conviction, drawing on firsthand fieldwork and a formidable command of climatology, geology, and human geography. His concept of stop-and-go determinism — the idea that environment sets the limits within which human agency can operate — runs as a bold thread throughout the text, challenging both romantic notions of boundless colonial possibility and crude environmental fatalism. Widely regarded as a foundational text in Australian geographical scholarship, this work remains an essential read for anyone seeking to understand the profound and enduring dialogue between the Australian environment and its human inhabitants. What limits does a landscape truly impose — and who decides when those limits have been reached?
Author: Griffith Taylor
Format: Hardback
Genre: Australian history
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Chipped and worn with some minor damage
Pages: Good
Few geographers of the twentieth century shaped the understanding of a continent quite like Griffith Taylor did with Australia: A Study of Warm Environments and Their Effect on British Settlement. This landmark work presents a rigorous geographical and environmental analysis of the Australian continent, arguing that climate, landscape, and natural conditions played a decisive and often underestimated role in determining where and how British settlers established communities across the vast land. Taylor charts the relationship between Australia's distinctive warm and arid environments — from its sun-scorched interior plains to its more temperate coastal fringes — and the patterns of human settlement that emerged from colonial enterprise. Taylor, one of the most prominent and at times controversial geographers of his era, writes with scientific authority and unflinching conviction, drawing on firsthand fieldwork and a formidable command of climatology, geology, and human geography. His concept of stop-and-go determinism — the idea that environment sets the limits within which human agency can operate — runs as a bold thread throughout the text, challenging both romantic notions of boundless colonial possibility and crude environmental fatalism. Widely regarded as a foundational text in Australian geographical scholarship, this work remains an essential read for anyone seeking to understand the profound and enduring dialogue between the Australian environment and its human inhabitants. What limits does a landscape truly impose — and who decides when those limits have been reached?