Julie Urbanik is assistant teaching professor in the Department of Geosciences at the University of Missouri–Kansas City.

It is not often that a text is seminal, but this one is. Urbanik reviews the geographic research that deals with humans' relationships with animals and provides an effective framework to understand how geographic thought has developed on this topic. She provides a historical overview of thinking about animals in the human world and analyzes recent geographic studies of animals as beasts of burden, on farms as food, and as wildlife in human spaces. Urbanik ‘places’ animals in societies' historical, economic, cultural, ethical, and political landscapes, and engages students to employ geographical approaches to think about animals in their lives. This introductory text would provide an appropriate foundation for courses designed to consider the geography of human-animal relations. However, it is more than that. It also reveals the evolution of the scholarship that is, of course, valuable to researchers, and captures a snapshot of contemporary attitudes toward and feelings about animals in mainstream cultures. Though rather brief, the book is very readable and deals with rather complex conceptualizations. It is a library-worthy volume, for certain. Summing Up: Essential. All academic levels/libraries.

• Chapter 1: Geography and Human-Animal RelationsChapter 2: A History of Animal GeographyChapter 3: Geographies of More-than-Human Homes and CulturesChapter 4: Beasts of Burden: Geographies of Working AnimalsChapter 5: Down on the Farm: Geographies of Animal PartsChapter 6: Into the Wild: Geographies of Human-Wildlife RelationsChapter 7: Conclusion: The Place of Geography in Human-Animal Studies

Julie Urbanik is assistant teaching professor in the Department of Geosciences at the University of Missouri–Kansas City.

It is not often that a text is seminal, but this one is. Urbanik reviews the geographic research that deals with humans' relationships with animals and provides an effective framework to understand how geographic thought has developed on this topic. She provides a historical overview of thinking about animals in the human world and analyzes recent geographic studies of animals as beasts of burden, on farms as food, and as wildlife in human spaces. Urbanik ‘places’ animals in societies' historical, economic, cultural, ethical, and political landscapes, and engages students to employ geographical approaches to think about animals in their lives. This introductory text would provide an appropriate foundation for courses designed to consider the geography of human-animal relations. However, it is more than that. It also reveals the evolution of the scholarship that is, of course, valuable to researchers, and captures a snapshot of contemporary attitudes toward and feelings about animals in mainstream cultures. Though rather brief, the book is very readable and deals with rather complex conceptualizations. It is a library-worthy volume, for certain. Summing Up: Essential. All academic levels/libraries.

• Chapter 1: Geography and Human-Animal RelationsChapter 2: A History of Animal GeographyChapter 3: Geographies of More-than-Human Homes and CulturesChapter 4: Beasts of Burden: Geographies of Working AnimalsChapter 5: Down on the Farm: Geographies of Animal PartsChapter 6: Into the Wild: Geographies of Human-Wildlife RelationsChapter 7: Conclusion: The Place of Geography in Human-Animal Studies

Julie Urbanik is assistant teaching professor in the Department of Geosciences at the University of Missouri–Kansas City.

It is not often that a text is seminal, but this one is. Urbanik reviews the geographic research that deals with humans' relationships with animals and provides an effective framework to understand how geographic thought has developed on this topic. She provides a historical overview of thinking about animals in the human world and analyzes recent geographic studies of animals as beasts of burden, on farms as food, and as wildlife in human spaces. Urbanik ‘places’ animals in societies' historical, economic, cultural, ethical, and political landscapes, and engages students to employ geographical approaches to think about animals in their lives. This introductory text would provide an appropriate foundation for courses designed to consider the geography of human-animal relations. However, it is more than that. It also reveals the evolution of the scholarship that is, of course, valuable to researchers, and captures a snapshot of contemporary attitudes toward and feelings about animals in mainstream cultures. Though rather brief, the book is very readable and deals with rather complex conceptualizations. It is a library-worthy volume, for certain. Summing Up: Essential. All academic levels/libraries.

• Chapter 1: Geography and Human-Animal RelationsChapter 2: A History of Animal GeographyChapter 3: Geographies of More-than-Human Homes and CulturesChapter 4: Beasts of Burden: Geographies of Working AnimalsChapter 5: Down on the Farm: Geographies of Animal PartsChapter 6: Into the Wild: Geographies of Human-Wildlife RelationsChapter 7: Conclusion: The Place of Geography in Human-Animal Studies