1. Introduction; G.S. Dunbar. 2. History of German Geography: Worldwide Reputation and Strategies of Nationalisation and Institutionalisation; B. Schelhaas, I. Hönsch. 3. Geography in France: Context, Practice, and Text; V.R.H. Berdoulay. 4. A Partial Biography: The Formalization and Institutionalization of Geography in Britain since 1887; C.W.J. Withers. 5. Modern Geography in Italy: From the Archives to Environmental Management; I.L. Caraci. 6. Geography and Geographers in the Netherlands since the 1870s: Serving Colonialism, Education, and the Welfare State; B. de Pater. 7. Stories on the Making of Geography in Sweden; A. Buttimer. 8. Geography in Russia: Glories and Disappointments; D. Hooson. 9. Academic Geography, American Style: An Institutional Perspective; W.A. Koelsch. 10. The Development of Geographical Study in Canada, 1870-2000; J.H. Warkentin, P. Simpson-Housley.

This book is a comprehensive treatment of the professionalization and institutionalization of the academic discipline of geography in Europe and North America, with emphasis on the 20th century and the last quarter of the 19th. No other book has ever attempted coverage of this sort. It is relevant to geographers, practitioners of the social and earth sciences, and historians of science and education.