The evolution of basic physical geography, 1892-1967 : an analysis of American physical geography textbooks

The emergence of geography in public school curriculum in the late nineteenth century was followed by the publication of numerous physical geography textbooks, especially by physiographers. These texts reflected the "physiography and causation" paradigm of the time. A majority of material was devoted to geomorphology, though some texts included discussopm that attempted to relate physiography to the human dimension of geography. By the early 1920s, however, the physical component of geography was in decline. In the two decades prior to 1936, no new tests in physical geography were published and no revised editions appeared after 1926. Elements of Geography, authered by Finch and Trewartha and published in 1936, marked the end of the earlier era of texts on basic physical geography and the begining of a new era that still persists.