Edited by Michael P. Conzen, a well-known professor at the University of Chicago, The Making of the American Landscape is the only compact yet comprehensive survey of environmental and cultural forces that have shaped the visual character and geographical diversity of the settled American landscape.

"Michael Conzen has re-assembled a superb line up of authors renowned for their capacity to see detail and interpret the big picture. Chapters have been updated, especially through an expanded array of historical and contemporary views of landscapes, and several new authors make this an even more compelling text."
-- Deryck Holdsworth, Pennsylvania State University

"This richly illustrated and engagingly written survey of American landscapes provides exactly the right education to begin to see and understand landscape in all its order and variety. The second edition adds some sparkling new chapters, updated information, and attractive photographic color to what is already the standard of excellence for American landscape studies."
-- John Agnew, University of California, Los Angeles

The book examines the large-scale historical influences that have molded the varied human adaptation of the continent’s physical topography to its needs over more than 500 years. It presents a synoptic view of myriad historical processes working together or in conflict, and illustrates them through their survival in or disappearance from the everyday landscapes of today.

Contributors include Wilbur Zelinsky,Stanley W. Trimble, John C. Hudson and many more.