John Agnew & Jonathan M. Smith 
American Space/American Place 
Geographies of the Contemporary United States

American Space/American Place offers geographical perspectives on the condition of the United States at the outset of the twenty-first century. It compares the American ideal of liberty, equality, individual opportunity and social improvement with the contemporary condition of the regions, states and localities–the ideal American space with its reality as a place. It uses the public standard provided by the official ideology of the United States to see how well things are really going. Agnew and Smith consider the contrast between ideal and reality at local, state and national levels in education, health, and welfare, in community, race, gender, and calss relations, in economic and industrial development, and in the use and exploitation of America”s landscape. American Space/American Place provides a series of compelling insights into the current condition of American Society, its natural environment and its place within the world.