Best human geography books according to redditors

We found 49 Reddit comments discussing the best human geography books. We ranked the 34 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.

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Top Reddit comments about Human Geography:

u/[deleted] · 166 pointsr/politics

Wikileaks has in the past leaked information about US warcrimes and foreign policy that every American should pay attention to. I have a copy of their book that is largely analysis of the diplomatic cables that they leaked back in 2010. The media went out of its way to downplay that whole deal, but if you actually read them and put them in context they are a wonderful illustration of neo-imperialism, which is something Americans tend to ignore.

That said in recent years Wikileaks has been obviously compromised and has gotten more incoherent in its values. Even in the introduction of that book (the only part written by Assange) it becomes kind of obvious that the guy has an agenda that goes way beyond "exposing the truth". Nobody who's interested in truth can make the claim that Assad is "the only meaningful force against ISIS" with any sincerity. That is, by the way, also Russia's party line. In fact Assange seems to go along with Russia's views quite a bit for a guy who claims to be interested in democracy.

My guess is Assange's continued freedom is dependent on him not pissing off Russia, which is an ally of Ecuador. In that sense he's in their orbit. Remember when Ecuador shut off his internet a few months ago? The basic reality is that they could turn over Assange to British police in a heartbeat. Assange can only avoid this if he plays by their rules, more or less.

The guy's cornered and afraid right now. I'd argue nobody should have trusted him to begin with (he's always been sensationalistic and self serving), but now? People need to think seriously about what the guy's agenda and reason for releasing things he does is.

It was obvious the timing of the leaks this year was meant to impact the election. You just have to look at how and when wikileaks released them. Right before the election. If they weren't intending to get Trump elected they have a funny way of showing it.

u/swinedragon · 45 pointsr/AskHistorians

There are entire books on Chinese nationalism that I would recommend you seek out, but I'll try to sketch a useful answer for you.

I don't think we could point to a unified response among Chinese nationalists to this question. Different contexts and the passage of time has meant that there are different types of Chinese nationalists, who themselves might disagree on everything but the existence of a Chinese nation. Consider, as an example, anti-traditionalists like Qian Xuantong who thought China would be strengthened by abolishing its "backward" language and replacing it with something more practical (like Esperanto according to Qian) and then consider nationalists today (like Xi Jinping) who invoke Confucianism in trying to construct an essentialist Chinese national identity:

> "The honor and shame of an individual is related with that of the nation," Sha said. "This goes back to the time of Confucius, when Chinese were taught to protect the honor of the nation. Society is a complicated network, and we play our roles as members of a collective unit, so this is natural for us."

source)

 

Qian Xuantong represents those anti-traditionalist nationalists who blamed China's humiliation largely on cultural differences--a backwards language, Confucian social structures, feudalism, and non-scientific ways of thinking. This anti-traditionalism was the common sentiment among leaders of the May Fourth Movement and New Culture Movement. Mao is difficult to pin down on this issue, in my assessment, but here is an early writing of his that follows along these lines:

> It is not that basically we have no strength; the source of our impotence lies in our lack of practice. For thousands of years the Chinese people of several hundred millions have all led a life of slaves. Only one person — the 'emperor'— was not a slave, or rather one could say that even he was the slave of 'heaven'. When the emperor was in control of everything, we were given no opportunity for practice.

 

Though the Manchus would soon be incorporated by the ROC as one of China's five major ethnic groups, Sun Yat-sen at one point also blamed the ruling Manchus of the Qing dynasty for China's backwardness: China could not respond effectively to European imperial powers because it was ruled by corrupt and backward barbarians. If only the Chinese people could shrug off the Manchu yoke, China would be able to restore itself to its former glory. This Han-centric nationalism, as you might expect, runs very much counter to the Chinese nationalism we see today which emphasizes the territorial integrity of China and the ethnic harmony and brotherhood of China's various ethnic groups.


 

This leads me to the next view, which claims the "century of humiliation" occurred predominantly because foreign powers were naturally (because they were capitalist) aggressive and exploitative whereas Qing China was not. For example, imperial powers plied the Chinese people with opium and their addiction to it meant they were unable to deal with the Europeans and Japanese. Consider this line from Mao's famous speech "The Chinese People Have Stood Up!":

> The Chinese have always been a great, courageous and industrious nation; it is only in modern times that they have fallen behind. And that was due entirely to oppression and exploitation by foreign imperialism and domestic reactionary governments. For over a century our forefathers never stopped waging unyielding struggles against domestic and foreign oppressors, including the Revolution of 1911 led by Dr. Sun Yat-sen, our great forerunner in the Chinese revolution. (Compare this Mao quote to the one above!)

Nationalist scholars today have echoed this sentiment when pushing back against claims by Western scholars that the Qing was an aggressive, expansionist empire. An English explanation here.

For communists, this also fits in nicely with Leninist explanations for imperialism which sought to place imperialism as the highest manifestation of capitalism.


In any case, there are other explanations I have not touched on; Chinese nationalism is so virulent today that there are probably some pretty half-baked strains out there on internet forums with their own explanations as to why China was humiliated for a century.



u/UqbarB · 36 pointsr/WikiLeaks

Best analysis of the regime change planned for Syria, using WikiLeaks documents, is from the book "The WikiLeaks Files", which contains a pretty good analysis of several geopolitical issues using the cables, with an introduction by Assange that is worth reading to understand why this is so important. No mainstream media clickbait, or pro-war propaganda laundered through think tanks or allied governments, but analysis using diplomatic cables, the closest thing to scientific journalism you will get nowadays.

You can find an extract of the Syria section here:

https://truthout.org/articles/wikileaks-reveals-how-the-us-aggressively-pursued-regime-change-in-syria-igniting-a-bloodbath/

u/P2PosTeD · 13 pointsr/geopolitics

I am a poli sci undergrad so please take everything I say with a bit of skepticism. But everything from that post comes from two books this and this. After posting it I figured no one would actually read it.

u/yuriyb · 8 pointsr/todayilearned

Not as violent - only as far as the average Joe is concerned. The actions committed as a direct result of government decisions/commands are frequently just as bad, if not worse. You and I just aren't directly involved in those.

If you want some interesting (and depressing & frustrating) reading, check out The WikiLeaks Files: The World According to US Empire.

u/xplkqlkcassia · 7 pointsr/DebateCommunism

See Ostrom's Governing the Commons, this article, National Geographic's Book of Peoples of the World: A Guide to Cultures, George Peter Murdock's Atlas of World Cultures, and Marriage and Inequality in Classless Societies by Jane Fishburne Collier to open your mind to the different social arrangements which can exist with different material conditions. The tragedy of the commons is a purely theoretical exercise. In reality, all pre-class societies have developed cultural practices and means of organising society to reconcile individual interests with collective interests. If you're interested in the Marxist perspective on the development of capitalism, familiarise yourself with the concept of private accumulation. You can do this through reading Engels' The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, but also Rethinking Capitalist Development by Kalyan Sanyal and The Invention of Capitalism by Michael Perelman.

u/netsettler · 7 pointsr/politics

Right. Money matters for everyone up to a point. We all have to eat, have a roof over our heads, etc. It matters to hit the essentials. Beyond that, some people are there to get something done and some are there to make money. She may have to dial the knobs around to hit the right balance point, making sure staffers aren't worried all day about the basics, but she might as well use it as a filter above that because what she needs beyond a certain point are people who want to use the job to make life good for everyone, not people who are there for themselves.

The salary profiles other Congress people are choosing to offer is one that favors the rich in various ways. In this context, which is directly relevant, I can't recommend highly enough Sarah Kendzior's book The View from Flyover Country in this regard. (I listened on audiobook, which she reads herself and is excellent.)

u/tokyoburns · 4 pointsr/politics

I'm really glad you are interested in the topic of race in America. Especially its intersection with politics. It's a serious issue that needs more attention. Here are several books I recommend to get you started:

https://www.amazon.com/Race-Human-Diversity-Biocultural-Approach/dp/0131838768/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1473351402&sr=8-3&keywords=human+diversity

https://www.amazon.com/Between-World-Me-Ta-Nehisi-Coates/dp/0812993543/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473351442&sr=8-1&keywords=coates

https://www.amazon.com/Race-Matters-Cornel-West/dp/0679749861/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473351540&sr=8-1&keywords=race+matters

If you don't have the money to purchase one right now I'd be glad to try to find a pirated version for you. If I can't find one (or your not comfortable with pirating) I'm sure some redditors would be happy to crowd fund your curiosity on this subject and buy a few books for you to get started.

u/xaliber · 3 pointsr/AskSocialScience

I majored in political science, but I always have interest in anthropology. I find Ted Lewellen's Political Anthropology: An Introduction pretty interesting and easy to relate with (in fact that was the book used during a political anthropology class I took).

I see these sites recommended by anthropologists too:

u/big_al11 · 3 pointsr/chomsky

Well, if you read Wikileaks' latest book you'll see they have the documents that prove they did pay for the last one they did (2014), and it is all the same characters from last time, the same people who are constantly ferried between Caracas and Arlington Virginia to meet CIA officials and who give speeches in DC about how they're going to succeed in overthrowing the chavistas the next time. You can read a summary of the wikileaks for Venezuela here.

u/ms_teacherlady · 3 pointsr/education

while these students may be unaware of the philosophies behind Occupying, they make some valid points that align with a turn towards spatial consciousness in the social sciences.

did anyone else notice that they're at a school named after Paul Robeson...and the diversity of the student representatives?

>One of the most disheartening experiences for those who grew up in the years when Martin Luther King Jr. and Thurgood Marshall were alive is to visit public schools today that bear their names, or names of other honored leaders of the integration struggles that produced the temporary progress that took place in the three decades after Brown v. Board of Education, and to find out how many of these schools are bastions of contemporary segregation. (Jonathon Kozol)

spatial justice, the right to the city, inclusive/dialogical democracy. these kids know what's up--even if they don't. ...and it's even sadder if they don't.

>How men and women act in the world is largely related to how they perceive themselves in the world, and … the existent potential to transform our internal neocolonial condition will remain unrealized if we fail to appropriately perceive and develop a consciousness of this condition and its possible undoing. (Tejeda et al.)

i would have cited this in my thesis about the need for spatial praxis in schools, if i hadn't finally turned it in yesterday.

u/bartleby · 2 pointsr/books

Nonfiction:

u/MichaelALevi · 2 pointsr/IAmA

I won't pretend to be an expert on any of these! But I can recommend some great colleagues who are super smart on these issues....

Mexico: Shannon O'Neil has an excellent / pretty recent book on the political economy of Mexico: http://www.amazon.com/Two-Nations-Indivisible-Mexico-United/dp/0199898332/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1395348060&sr=1-1&keywords=shannon+o%27neil

Indonesia: Josh Kurlantzick: http://www.cfr.org/experts/asia-southeast-asia-democracy-human-rights/joshua-kurlantzick/b15522

Nigeria: John Campbell has an excellent book: http://www.amazon.com/Nigeria-Dancing-Council-Foreign-Relations/dp/1442206896

And, finally, Turkey: try Steven Cook's writings: http://www.cfr.org/experts/middle-east-israel-egypt-turkey-arab-world/steven-a-cook/b10266

u/buffalocoinz · 2 pointsr/chicago

Yup. That's urban sociology to a T. It happened in Wicker Park during the 90s, which you can read about if you're interested: http://www.amazon.com/Neo-Bohemia-Art-Commerce-Postindustrial-City/dp/0415870976

u/Vormav · 2 pointsr/shittankiessay

While I didn't read that article entirely, this being a shitpost sub and all, the impression I got was that old Stalin was fixed on the individual/collective divide, obviously preferring the latter. Anarchism being individualist was one of his criticisms. The leap from egoist anarchism in particular to communism seems amazingly obvious, but Stalin didn't make that leap. Didn't read many anarchists either, according to some secondary source.

Not sure how accurate that is. He was apparently very well read, boorish persona aside. Scanning through now after Stalin's own wording of socialism he says the first major attack on Marxism by anarchists is to claim plagiarism. This is a long and sordid story which involved a Georgian writer whose name I couldn't spell in fifty years. The Manifesto was just a translation, according to some anarchist figures. Stalin being Georgian himself makes the connection there an obvious one.

This is a weird document in hindsight. Stalin seems to be defending Marxism from various anarchists (Kropotkin, for instance) who are in turn attacking what would in a few decades be a nice description of the Soviet Union. Egoism, unfortunately, doesn't seem to be on his agenda. Likely he never read Stirner, whose popularity must wax and wane like no other. Someone wrote a book which I haven't read on Stalin's mindset/reading list. Might be worth a look.

u/viktorbir · 2 pointsr/TrueAtheism

Quite informed. I'm a Catalan :-)

Suggestions:

u/satanic_hamster · 2 pointsr/CapitalismVSocialism

> Capitalism has been consistently proven to raise the standards of living wherever it has been tried.

Google the word neoliberalism sometime, and spend a day researching it.

> Meanwhile, every single attempt at socialism - the USSR, the PRC, the DPRK, Venezuela, Cuba - has resulted in disaster, and has lowered the standards of living wherever it has been tried.

In what sense are these socialist, apart from what they call themselves in name? An anarcho-capitalist can have some actual, justified criticisms against socialism in practice (I've seen many), but when people like you plow forward with such an elementary misunderstanding, believe me when I say you look bad, even to your own camp.

The Zapatistas? The Paris Commune? The Ukrainian Free Territories? Revolutionary Catalonia? The Israeli Kibbutzim? That is your actual target.

> There is a reason why every single country that was once considered communist has transitioned towards capitalism...

Because they were bombed to hell in the interest of the capitalist class?

> ... and it should be no surprise to anyone that the standard of living has raised in these areas.

Like the four asian tigers did through State intervention? (And like the US did, also). Nothing even close to a free market prescription, albeit a quasi-capitalist one nevertheless.

u/empleadoEstatalBot · 2 pointsr/argentina
	


	


	


> # The European Diaspora: European Ancestry Worldwide
>
>
>
> [European_Ancestry](http://brilliantmaps.com/wp-content/uploads/European_Ancestry.png)
>
> _Map created by Nagihuin via Wikimedia_The map above shows the percentage of each country’s population that has some claim to European ancestry. Taken together, it could be argued that Europeans are the world’s largest diaspora, with an estimated population of over 480 million people.
>
> However, just what constitutes European ancestry is highly controversial.
>
> The map excludes Turks and Azerbaijanis from being Europeans, but includes Georgians and Armenians. While this may be because the former are Muslim and the latter are Christians this is not wholly satisfying due to the fact that Balkan Muslims are considered European.
>
> Nagihuin, who created the map, got the figures for each country used the European Diaspora Wikipedia page and the following sources:
>
> > USA census. Russian census by oblast, autonomous provinces and other subnational entities linked in the Russian Wikipedia. Ethnic census in Central Asia, Australia states/territories, Latin American and Southern African countries quoted in articles in Wikipedia. Non-european immigrants population recounts in Europe in different articles.
>
> Therefore, based on most national censuses, many mixed race people would also be excluded from the map above and the data below.
>
> If we take the controversial definition the map uses, the European descended diaspora population by country is as follows:
>
> - United States – 223,553,265
> - Brazil – 91,051,646
> - Argentina – 38,900,000
> - Canada – 25,186,890
> - Australia – 20,982,665
> - Mexico – 20,100,000+
> - Colombia – 17,519,500
> - Venezuela – 13,169,949
> - Cuba – 7,160,399
> - South Africa – 4,472,100
> - Chile – 3,5M+
> - Costa Rica – 3,500,000
> - New Zealand – 3,381,076
> - Puerto Rico – 3,064,862
> - Uruguay – 2,851,095
> - Dominican Republic – 2,000,000+
> - Bolivia – 2,000,000+
> - Peru – 1,4M-4,4M+
> - Ecuador – 1,400,000+
> - Paraguay – 1,300,000+
> - Nicaragua – 1,000,000+
>
> To learn more about the subject of European migration, ancestry and diaspora, consider the following books:
>
> - Peoples and Empires: A Short History of European Migration, Exploration, and Conquest, from Greece to the Present
> - Coming to America: A History of Immigration and Ethnicity in American Life
> - Human Geography: People, Place, and Culture
>
> Leave your comments about the map below:




u/Anen-o-me · 2 pointsr/CapitalismVSocialism

>>It is not capitalism's fault if people fail to save.
>
>
>
> It is if they can't afford to.

Only if there is an alternative system which produces more wealth than capitalism, which there isn't.

We live in a world where some people have accumulated million-dollar fortunes by retirement by saving a quarter a week and investing it. Literally.

The biggest problem of most poor people is not that they do not make enough money, that is a symptom of the real problem. The biggest problem is a high time-preference mindset that causes them to make different choices than people with a low time-preference mindset, the former is strongly correlated with poverty, for obvious reasons once you study the mindset, and the latter mindset with wealth.

Banfield wrong a book called "the Unheavenly City" where he goes into these concepts.

Another good one is "Life at the Bottom" by Dalrymple, where he explains the themes and outcomes of a high time-preference culture in the British underclass poor, which are primarily white (thus removing racial elements that could muddy such a study).

> raising or lowering minimum wage will not and cannot solve the problems that socialists have with capitalism.

True enough, and the ideal MW is also no MW.

u/nickiter · 1 pointr/politics

I'd recommend anyone who's interested in learning more about how these sorts of hate campaigns work to go pick up a copy of Fear of Small Numbers by Arjun Appadurai. It's an amazingly clear-minded examination of how minorities are stigmatized and demonized. Once you read it, you'll recognize all of the moves Trump and co. are making as soon as they make them.

u/Theodiceeaboo · 1 pointr/hapas

There's a book about Robert Ho Tung, Irene Cheng, Jean Gittins & Joyce Symons based on their memoirs. Haven't read it, found out about it because the author quotes Sui Sin Far.

Being Eurasian: Memories Across Racial Divides, Vicky Lee

>This book is a description and analysis of the lives of three famous Hong Kong Eurasian memoirists, Joyce Symons, Irene Cheng and Jean Gittins, and explores their very different ways of constructing and looking at their own ethnic identity.

https://www.amazon.com/Being-Eurasian-Memories-Across-Divides/dp/9622096719

u/AFCMatt93 · 1 pointr/Gunners

Yeah, the sheer amount of countries the U.S. and Co. have destabilised is astounding.

Blair and Bush waddling into Iraq and Afghanistan for an illegal and pointless war that replaced Hussein with something far worse, 20 years of bloodshed from innocent civilians caught up in it in the afflicted countries as well as retaliatory terror attacks abroad, however many thousands on both sides that have died fighting a pointless war.

Then going back you’ve got Panama/Guatemala/Iran/Venezuela/Vietnam and probably plenty others I’ve missed where the U.S. has either tried or successfully destabilised the existing government worth something that’s often far worse.

You’re right though, Crimea used to be Russian and the fact that a lot of ethnic Russians still reside there was one of the reasons cited as justification for the annexation. If you’re interested, Tim Marshall did a great book that covered this (main focus is geopolitics and problems in the world today that exist because of artificial borders like in the Middle East, East/West tensions, rise of China as a superpower and the outward pressure its exerting in SEA, Pakistan/Indian tensions and of course plenty on the U.S. Highly recommend it if you want to get more clued in, his writing style is brilliant as well).

As for Trump, I was referring to the election meddling. Russians saw an opportunity and took it. Same with Brexit.

u/Cuznatch · 1 pointr/history

There's a fantastic book about that called Prisoners of Geography.

u/jojojoy · 1 pointr/ImGoingToHellForThis

> DNA test to determine your ancestry and ethnic background. Oops

I didn't say genetics don't exist. Just that the concept of separate races isn't supported by them. Obviously if you did a DNA test on me you could see where my ancestors came from. What you couldn't say in any way that is supported by the scientific community is that I am somehow a separate species or race from someone else, just that I come from somewhere else.

I never said that ethnicity didn't exist.

I'm talking about books like this, ie: recent works that could help to introduce you to what are currently the most subscribed to theories.

Guns, Germs and Steel is widely discredited.

u/TheoGr · 0 pointsr/europe

Definitely a communist, but also a patriot. Read this if you want to figure it out.