Required Readings
Required readings for Geog 101 come from the following sources
- Harm J. de Blij, Muller, P. and WinklerPrins A. 2010. The World Today. John Wiley and Sons.
- Veregin H. 2010. Goode’s World Atlas (22nd edition.) Rand McNally.
- Selected Readings from Donald N. Rallis’s Regional GeogBlog. Check the Course Calendar for details.
- Other readings from various sources (e.g. news or journal articles.) Details are posted on the Coures Calendar. Please note that readings may change during the semester, so please recheck the required readings periodically (Changes usually result from current issues in the news, or the addition of recently published articles and information.)
To find out what readings are required for each day’s class, please click on that day’s class on the course calendar. In the pop-up box that appears, you will find a listing of required readings that you should complete in preparation for the day’s class. (Click ‘details’ for a clearer version complete with embedded links.)
Recommended Readings.
There is a huge amount of very interesting material on all of the world regions we cover in the course, and I strongly encourage you to delve into it (for extra credit, if you wish.) Below is a small selection of some of the very good books that are relevant to this course. Most are popular books written for a general audience, and make both easy and fascinating reading. (This list was compiled primarily by Dr. Richard Russo of Frostburg State University; I have added a few suggestions of my own.)
Afghanistan
Chayes, S. 2006. The Punishment of Virtue: Inside Afghanistan after the Taliban.
Africa (general)
Theroux, P. 2003. Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Cape Town.
Burma
Larkin, E. 2010. Everything is Broken: A Tale of Catastrophe in Burma.
Myint-U, Y. 2008. The River of Lost Footsteps: A Personal History of Burma.
Cambodia
Ung, L. 2000. First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers.
Canada
Grescoe, T. 2001. Sacré Blues: An Unsentimental Journey through Québec.
Kostash, M. 2000. The Next Canada: In Search of Our Future Nation.
Laxer, J. 2006. The Acadians: In Search of a Homeland.
MacGregor, R. 2007. Canadians: A Portrait of a Country and Its People.
China
Becker, J. 2000. The Chinese
Gifford, R. 2007. China Road: A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power.
Naisbitt, John and Doris. 2010. China’s Megatrends.
Central Asia
Tayler, J. 2009. Murderers in Mausoleums: Riding the Back Roads of Empire Between
Moscow and Beijing.
Weatherford, J. 2010. The Secret History of the Mongol Queens: How the Daughters of
Genghis Khan Rescued His Empire
Congo
Wrong, M. 2001. In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz: Living on the Brink of Disaster in
Mobutu’s Congo.
Germany
Meyer, M. 2009. The Year That Changed the World: The Untold Story Behind the Fall of the Berlin Wall.
Iran
Jubber, N. 2010. Drinking Arak Off an Ayatolah’s Beard: A Journey Through the Inside-Out Worlds of Iran and Afghanistan.
Majd, H. 2008. The Ayatollah Begs to Differ: The Paradox of Modern Iran.
Iraq
Kennedy, H. 2005. When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World.
Israel/ Palestine
Backmann, R. 2010. A Wall in Palestine.
Miller, A.D. 2008. The Much Too Promised Land: America’s Elusive Search for Arab-Israeli Peace
Lebanon
Young, M. 2010. The Ghosts of Martyrs Square: An Eyewitness Account of Lebanon’s Life Struggle.
Middle East (general)
Cohen, J. 2007. Children of Jihad: A Young American’s Travel Among the Youth of the Middle East.
Peru
Muller, K. 2000. Along the Inca Road: A Woman’s Journey into an Ancient Empire.
Saudi Arabia
Bradley, J.R. 2005. Saudi Arabia Exposed: Inside a Kingdom in Crisis.
Lacey, R. 2009. Inside the Kingdom: Kings, Clerics, Modernists,Terrorists, and the Struggle for Saudi Arabia.
South Africa
Russell, A. 2009. Bring Me My Machine Gun: The Battle for the Soul of South Africa,
from Mandela to Zuma.
Spain
Barlow, J. 2008. Everything But the Squeal: Eating the Whole Hog in Northern Spain.
Menocal, M.R. 2002. The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews, and Christians
Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain.
Sri Lanka
Barker, A. 2010. Not Quite Paradise: An American Sojourn in Sri Lanka.
Sudan/ Darfur
Hari, D. 2008. The Translator: A Tribesman’s Memoir of Darfur.
Mamdani, M. 2009. Saviors and Survivors: Darfur, Politics, and the War on Terror.
Steidle, B. 2007. The Devil Came on Horseback: Bearing Witness to the Genocide in Darfur.
Turkey
Kinzer, S. 2001. Crescent and Star: Turkey Between Two Worlds.
Morris, C. 2006. The New Turkey: The Quiet Revolution on the Edge of Europe.
United Arab Emirates
Krane, J. 2009. City of Gold: Dubai and the Dream of Capitalism.
United Kingdom
Lyall, S. 2008. The Anglo Files: A Field Guide to the British.
Yemen
Clark, V. 2010. Yemen: Dancing on the Heads of Snakes.
Zimbabwe
Godwin, P. 2006. When a Crocodile Eats The Sun.
