“The apple of my eye”: Carl Sauer and historical geography

Many historical geographers would claim Sauer to be one of them. Yet, with the exception of his Foreword to historical geography (1941) he made no major declaration of his interest in the sub-discipline. This paper attempts to examine Sauer's attitude to the time element in geography through a close appraisal of his published work but particularly through his hitherto unpublished correspondence. It soon becomes evident that Sauer changed his ideas during his long working life, and that it is difficult to disentangle Sauer's philosophy about the time element in geography from his philosophy about life, particularly within university circles in the United States, and within American society in general. Sauer's comment to a student in 1936 that historical geography “is of course the apple of my eye” would seem to be demonstrated amply, but that historical geography was not a conventional methodology so much as a flexible metaphor to encompass the study of man on earth through time. It was also the vehicle for some of his prime concerns; scholarship, independent thought, opposition to bureaucracy, concern for human values and environmental quality, and deep distaste for the technological and scientific “fix”, particularly the solutions offered by the social sciences. It might repay contemporary historical geographers to take a close look at Sauer's academic and intellectual values.     

Reviews

DOCUMENTS AND SPEECHES ON COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS 1952–1962. Nicholas Mansergh (ed.). London, New York, Toronto, Oxford University Press, 1963 for the Royal Institute of International Affairs. Pp. xxi, 775. £stg. 6–0–0.

THE POST‐WAR TRANSFORMATION OF THE COMMONWEALTH: Reflections on the Asian‐African Contribution. M. S. Rajan. London, Asia Publishing House, 1963, for the Indian School of International Studies, Pp. 67. Stg. 18/‐.

COMMUNITY AND CONTENTION: BRITAIN AND AMERICA IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. Bruce M. Russett. M.I.T. Press, Cambridge, Mass. Pp. xii, 252, $7.00.

PEACE KEEPING BY UNITED NATIONS FORCES FROM SUEZ TO THE CONGO. A. L. Burns and Nina Heathcote. Princeton Studies in World Politics, Number 4, 1963, pp. 256.

NEUTRALISM. Peter Lyon. Leicester University Press, 1963. Pp. 216. U.K. price 25/‐.

THE ATLANTIC ALLIANCE: A SHORT POLITICAL GUIDE. Alvin J. Cottrell and James E. Dougherty. London, Pall Mall Press, 1964. Pp. 262. U.K. price 30/‐.

THE ECONOMIC INTEGRATION OP HUNGARY INTO THE SOVIET BLOC. L. Zsoldos. Bureau of Business Research, Ohio State University, 1963. Pp. 149. Price $5.00.

VOSPOMINANIYA O FEVRALSKOY REVOLYUTSII. MEMOIRS OF THE FEBRUARY (MARCH RUSSIAN) REVOLUTION. I. G. Tsereteli. Mouton & Co., Paris. The Hague. 1963. Two volumes. I, xxx + 494; II, 429 & Index. Published with the cooperation of the Russian Institute of Columbia University and the Russian Research Centre of Harvard University.

ALBANIA AND THE SINO‐SOVIET RIFT. William E. Griffith. The M.I.T. Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1963. Pp. 423. Australian price £1/9/6.

MAO AGAINST KHRUSHCHEV. A SHORT HISTORY OF THE SINO‐SOVIET CONFLICT. David Floyd. London, Pall Mall Press, 1964. Pp. 456. Stg. 50/‐.

TIBET AND ITS HISTORY. H. E. Richardson. London, Oxford University Press, 1962. Pp. ix + 297, illustrated, maps. Australian price 65/‐.

THE TWO VIET‐NAMS. Bernard B. Fall. London, Pall Mall Press, 1963. Pp. viii + 493. Stg. 50/‐.

PROBLEMS OP FREEDOM: SOUTH VIETNAM SINCE INDEPENDENCE. Wesley R. Fishel (ed.). New York, The Free Press, 1961. Pp. xiv + 233. $6.95.

FROM COLONIALISM TO COMMUNISM: A CASE HISTORY OF NORTH VIETNAM. Hoang Van Chi. London, Pall Mall Press, 1964. Pp. xv + 252. Stg. 40/‐.

INDONESIA. Ruth T. McVey (ed.). New Haven, HRAF Press, 1963. Pp. xviii + 600. $12.00.

THE DECLINE OF CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY IN INDONESIA. Herbert Feitk. Cornell University Press, 1962. ‘Pp. xx + 618. $8.75.

THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF INDEPENDENT MALAYA: A CASE STUDY IN DEVELOPMENT. T. H. Silcock and E. K. Fisk (eds.). Australian National University, 1963. Pp. 306 + xi. 42/‐.