Description: Usually defined in terms of their physical characteristics, mountains can also be seen through a social and cultural lens as national emblems, political boundaries, obstacles to be conquered and climbed, objects of conservation, and regional homes to often marginalized groups of people. This book, translated from the French, traces the history of such social constructions of mountains from Enlightenment Europe to the present. From Reims Mountain to the Sierra Nevada, by way of Fouta Djallon, the Andes of Patagonia, the Yukon, Mount Royal, the Naga Hills, and the center of Sulawesi, it also surveys the implications of globalization on mountain spaces and the people who inhabit them. A prominent theme is the role of individuals--from Alexander von Humboldt to John Muir to Dian Fossey, along with many lesser-known figures--in shaping and promoting western understandings of mountains, although, as the authors note, mountains have yet to find their own Jacques Cousteau.
Brief description: Bernard Debarbieux is professor of geography and regional planning at the University of Geneva, Switzerland.
Review Quotes: "The authors' treatment of the subject is interesting, clearly unique, and provides a perspective hitherto unrealized. The book's strengths, besides its variety of topics, are its global perspective and inclusion of contemporary issues. Essential."-- "Choice"