Book Reviews and Notices : World Political Geography. By G. ETZEL PEARGY, RUSSELL FIFIELD, AND ASSOCIATES. (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell. 1948. Pp. xv, 653. $4.75. )

• Published date: 01 September 1948
• Date: 01 September 1948
• Author: E.E. Miller
• DOI: 10.1177/106591294800100351
• Subject Matter: Articles

359

World

Political

Geography.

By

G.

ETZEL

PEARGY,

RUSSELL

FIFIELD,

AND

ASSOCIATES.

(New

York:

Thomas

Y.

Crowell.

1948.

Pp.

xv,

653.

$4.75. )

It

is

the

viewpoint

of

the

authors

of

this

new

book

that

many

texts

in

political

geography

are

incomplete

because

they

treat

only

the

better

known

and

more

powerful

political

states

of

the

world.

This

text

contains

infor-

mation

on

all

of

the

countries,

giving

for

each

a

short

history

of

the

evolution

of

the

state,

a

study

of

the

people,

factors

of

site

and

location

in

causing

the

problems

of

the

state,

resources

of

the

states,

a

study

of

future

problems

and

their

possible

solution.

About

three-fourths

of

the

chapters

deal

with

the

study

of

the

regions,

nations,

and

areas

of

the

world.

The

other

fourth

of

the

book

is

devoted

to

a

discussion of

the

science

of

political

geography

and

to

some

subject

matters

that

lend

themselves

to

an

overall

view

rather

than

to

a

regional

treatment.

Within

this

section

is

included

a

study

of

oceanography

or

political

geography

of

the

oceans,

boundaries

and

how

they

affect

international

relations,

population

factors

in

international

affairs

as

well

as

the

strategy

of

World

War

II;

and

finally,

a

chapter

deals

with

geo-

graphy

in

future

world

politics.

A

large

and

excellent

bibliography

com-

pletes

the

text.

An

extremely

interesting

account

of

the

use

of

geopolitics

(political

geography)

by

the

German

military

command

is

to

be

found

in

the

book.

According

to

the

authors,

the

German

strategy

involved

four

steps:

(a)

an

alliance

or

Axis,

was

formed

with

Italy

in

order

to

sever

Europe

and

to

render

Soviet

Russia

inaccessible

to

the

Western

Powers;

(b)

striking

west-

ward,

Germany

overran

France

and

drove

Britain’s

navy

away

from

conti-

nental

Europe

by

land-based

air

power;

(c)

an

alliance

was

formed

with

Japan

for

the

purpose

of

encircling

the

vast

continent

of

Asia,

and

slowly

strangling

Soviet

Russia

and

China;

and

(d)

after

the

conquest

of

Asia,

the

Axis

planned

to

transform

it

into

a

world

fortress

from

which

a

naval

and

aerial

onslaught

was

to

be

launched

upon

the

Americas

and

the

outlying

portions

of

the

British

Commonwealth

and

Empire.

It

is

quite

possible

that

the

plan

might

have

succeeded

had

the

German

leaders

not

digressed

from

sound

geopolitical

principles

and

attacked

Soviet

Russia

before

North

Africa

and

the

Near

East

had

been

cleared

of

enemy

forces.

It

might

also

have

succeeded

had

Japan

been

a

first-rate

rather

than

a

second-rate

industrial

nation.

The

time

has

come

when

people

of

the

United

States

can

ill

afford

to

be

geographically

illiterate.

Reading

an

interesting

and

informative

book

of

this

kind

will

give

a

wealth

of

geographic,

historical,

political,

and

ethnic

knowledge

of

the

nations,

peoples,

and

areas

of

the

world.

The

book

has

one

noticeable

disadvantage

in

that

a

number

of

the

words

are

so

seldom

used