Earth Shapers by Maxim Samson

‘A wonderfully curious writer’ OBSERVER
‘This is a book that reshapes our story of global human geography’ PROFESSOR DANNY DORLING

Mountains, meridians, rivers and borders; these are some of the features that carve up the world on our maps and in our minds. But geography is far less set in stone than we might believe and, over time, we have become experts at reshaping our surroundings.

From the Qhapaq Nan, South America’s ‘Great Road’, and the Panama Canal to Mozambique’s railways and Korea’s sacred Baekdu-daegan mountain range, Samson explores how we mould the world around us. And how, as we etch our needs onto the natural landscape, we alter the course of history.

An immense work of cultural geography touching on ecology, sociology, history and politics, Earth Shapers argues that, far from being constrained by geography, we are instead its creators.

How humans harnessed the geographical landscape and wrote ourselves onto our surroundings

About the Author: Maxim Samson is a geographer and the author of Invisible Lines: Boundaries and Belts That Define the World. An award-winning educator and researcher, he has taught and presented keynote lectures at universities in the United Kingdom, the United States and Indonesia. He is an adjunct professor at DePaul University in Chicago, specialising in cultural geography and religion. In his free time, he enjoys long-distance running and exploring the culture and language of his favourite country, Indonesia.

07 Aug 2025
 

Earth Shapers: How Humans Mastered Geography and Remade the World by Maxim Samson ISBN 9781800815230