This groundbreaking volume offers a fresh approach to conceptualizing the historical geography of North America by taking a thematic rather than a traditional regional perspective. Leading geographers, building on current scholarship in the field, explore five central themes. The book includes sections that explore early settlement, nineteenth- and twentieth-century population movements, human transformations of the natural landscape, the inscription of human society on the landscape, and the urbanization of the continent. With its focus on human-environment interactions, the mobility of people, and growing urbanization, this thoughtful text will give students a uniquely geographical way to understand North American history.