“A welcome addition to the regional geography genre, with traditional thematic coverage nicely interwoven with analyses of linkages to both the local and the global environments....Flow maps, graphs, tables, and photographs augment the discussion and provide excellent visual support for the various explications of people and place....A sensitive treatment of a profoundly complex yet incredibly fascinating region. Kent's love of its place and people shines through....This book offers scholars and students looking for a regionally informed approach to Latin America terrific insights into the internal and external complexities of peoples and places. It provides a very traditional, descriptive framework for analysis and discourse that is enhanced nicely by broader and deeper examinations of both the whole and the parts that are Latin America....Provides, especially for students in an introductory course, an informative and very readable overview of both place and its context.”

—Journal of Regional Science (on the first edition)


“Kent’s updated second edition improves on a classic text. The comprehensive historical and environmental discussion of the region remains, while up-to-date vignettes capture the flavor of modern-day Latin America. Students like this book and appreciate Kent's ability to tell the story of one of the world’s most dynamic regions.”

—Jeff Lash, PhD, Geography Program, University of Houston–Clear Lake


“Kent accessibly lays out how physical processes affect human/social ones, and vice versa. The second edition offers helpful coverage of changes and watershed moments taking place in Latin America, particularly with respect to United States–Cuba relations. The text is eminently readable, packed with information, and deeply geographic. Kent clears away the unnecessary in his writing, retaining a direct, descriptive tone throughout.”

—Stephen Aldrich, PhD, Department of Earth and Environmental Systems, Indiana State University


“A comprehensive, readable treatment of Latin America’s many geographies, ideal for a midlevel undergraduate course in geography, Latin American studies, or allied fields. The vignettes are well chosen and vivid.”

—John Kelly, PhD, Department of Geography and Earth Science, University of Wisconsin–La Crosse


“This is an excellent course text by a scholar familiar with the rich traditions and research frontiers of cultural and historical Latin American geography. I highly recommend it.”

—Gregory W. Knapp, PhD, Department of Geography and the Environment, University of Texas at Austin


“The vignettes are outstanding and add real-world examples to the more abstract sections of the text.”

—Eric Keys, PhD, Science and Technology Fellow, National Science Foundation and American Association for the Advancement of Science