AAG Selects Paul Knox for AAG Globe Book Award

The AAG Globe Book Award for Public Understanding of Geography will be given for a book written or co-authored by a geographer that conveys most powerfully the nature and importance of geography to the non-academic world.  This distinction for 2015 is presented to Paul Knox (editor) for the book, Atlas of Cities, published by Princeton University Press.

The Atlas of Cities is a comprehensive and timely overview of urban geography classifications and considerations across time using inviting maps, charts, diagrams, tables, and photographs.  Knox’s categories are innovative, not only advancing the literature, but resonating with a broader audience.  The “Celebrity City” chapter is engaging, while simultaneously introducing network analysis and systems science.   The “Megacity” chapter visually demonstrates the disproportionate number of cities and agglomerations in Asia and along coastlines.  The scale of recent rural-urban migrations and human suffering in densely-populated, infrastructure-challenged slums is made plain.  This atlas would be equally at home in a university urban geography course or awaiting leisurely examination on a coffee table.