Review: North Carolina: People and Environments, 2nd Edition
Stephen Birdsall,University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, reviewed in The North Carolina Historical Review, Volume LXXXI, number 4, October 2004
'The second edition of North Carolina: People and Environments (2002), by Ole Gade, Arthur B. Rex, and James E. Young, with L. baker Perry, offers a rich and abundant look at the state's many distinctive places and the environmental and regional settings that contribute to these places' character. The book's chapters are organized into three sections - the state's environmental base, its human geography, and North Carolina 's regions. Two transition chapters are used to examine human-environment interactions and to guide readers through the confusion of different regional structures employed across the state before offering the author's own configuration. This edition is much improved over the 1986 first edition. Hundreds of photographs depict the state in scenes travelers would truly encounter. Maps are copious, detailed, clear, and properly illustrative of the text. This is much more than an encyclopedic accumulation or a teaching aid. The book can also be an important resource for those concerned with policy development. The authors suggest, for example, that North Carolina has its own "tornado alley" where these destructive storms are more prevalent. A map series on coyote presence illustrates the recent spread of these adaptive animals. Commuting patterns of the Piedmont Triad hint at pressures on the region's roads and the small communities through which these roads pass. Thirty "problem Boxes" sprinkled throughout offer closer treatment of issues affecting parts or all of the state. Such issues range from earthquakes, barrier island formation and kudzu to AIDS in North Carolina , greenhouse gas emissions, and the Coastal Area management Act. Readers will find much to engage them. Order North Carolina: People and Environments (illustrations; figures; tables; 602 pages; hardback or paperback) from www.performance-education.com/NC_Book/ , Performance Education PO Box 3878, Mooresville, North Carolina 28117.'
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