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Abstract Several American introductory human geography textbooks are analyzed in details from the contents, structure, representation style, map using and internet support. The textbooks choosed for evaluation by the author include:Human Geography:Culture, Society and Space (de Blij and Murphy. 7th ed. John Wily and Sons, 2003), The Cultural Landscape:An Introduction to Human Geography (Rubenstein. 7th ed. Prentice Hall, 2002), Human Geography:Landscapes of Human Activities (Fellman, Getis, and Getis. 6th ed. WCB/McGraw-Hill, 1999), Places and Regions in Global Context:Human Geography (Knox and Marston. 2nd ed. Prentice Hall, 2001), The Human Mosaic:A Thematic Introduction to Cultural Geography (Jordan-Bychkov and Domosh. 6th ed. HarperColins College, 1994). Based on the analysis of the above textbooks, together with the published related papers, several characteristics of the American introductory human geography textbooks are summarized as followings:1) the differences lie mainly on the textbook structure and the organization of the materials instead of the contents; 2) the compile of the textbooks are based on the published works, showing the authors' special respect to other scholars, so the textbooks are informative; 3) every textbook mentioned above uses a lot of maps and photos, and is plenty of tables and cases, which makes it attractive, readable and vivid; 4) paying much attention to cultural analysis, which reflects the revive of cultural analysis; 5) the textbooks are full of landscape analysis, so they are attractive; 6) the updating of the American human geography textbooks is rapid, and they are reflective of times. A new edition of the textbook will appear in about three years, and the discussion of the hot issues will make them keep up to date. These characteristics can be reference to compile our similar textbooks. We can take account of and should make full use of the American experience in editing the textbooks when we modify or compile our related textbooks.
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Received: 01 March 2005
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2006, Vol. 21 
