Civic Discipline

'Geographers have not generally been good at writing their own histories. There is much to learn from Morin's exhaustive archival research into this widely influential nineteenth century "conservative liberal" and much to argue about too, but her account and the debates it sparks will help to fill in some of the blank spots in the discipline's map of itself.' Neil Smith, City University of New York, USA and University of Aberdeen, UK 'Civic Discipline is an outstanding book, the best we have, on the making of American geography during the "Gilded Age". Drawing on unexplored archives, Karen Morin reveals new and unexpected stories about the discipline’s pioneering institutions and personalities, specifically Charles Daly, the long-serving President of the American Geographical Society. This is a powerful commentary on the creation of a distinctively American geographical imagination on the eve of the American century.' Mike Heffernan, University of Nottingham, UK 'This book is suitable for those interested in the history of geography, particularly in the United States, as well as for teaching courses in the history and scope of geography. Civic Discipline provides worthwhile and thoughtful analysis that is suitable for consideration by geographers and historians.' Journal of Cultural Geography 'Morin does a remarkable job defining the practice of civic geography and excavating the contributions of Daly. Through her extensive archival research, she constructs the realm of nineteenth-century geography and how Daly and the AGS were major players in shaping geographic knowledge, particularly that of the movers and shakers in New York and Washington.' The Professional Geographer '... viewed as a whole, the work is an important and welcomed addition to a literature that is all too limited. Foremost, the author is to be congratulated for diving into a topic that has seemingly just been waiting for this kind of excavation and interpretation, and for doing it with orig