Page 1 The California ""- Geographer Annual Publication of the ...

BOOK REVIEW
East of Shannon-West of Mosco"w, by Valene L. Smith (William L.
Brown Book Company, Dubuque, Iowa, 1965. 144 pp.)
The intent of this book is to change a tourist who simply sightsees
into a geographically oriented traveler who wants to lmow why Europe
has so "many faces." The author is one of a few professional geographers
who already ten years ago started to answer the many questions of prospective
travelers in special travel geography classes at Los Angeles City
College. For these courses she prepared a manual, complete with maps and
place name exercises. The :first three chapters of the present book are a
revision of the 1965 manual. Chapters one and two offer updated technical
advice on such items as choice of transportation in relation to Europe's
road net, or on best clothing for the tourist season, Chapter three gives a
brief introduction to climate, landforms, flora, fauna and human occupancy
of the European continent. The following eleven chapters appear in print
for the :first time. They are regional, each \>vith an introductory black and
white map and ending with a list of sightseeing highlights. They cover all
the countries of Western Europe which usually are included in a good
travel itinerary. In addition, the fourteenth and 1ast chapter is dedicated to
the increasing number of Americans who seek first-hand information on
Eastern Europe. With only nine pages this chapter seems all too brief.
The ten regional presentations, from the British Isles down to the
Iberian Peninsula and across to Greece, become a pocket size human geography
of Western Europe for the traveling layman. Throughout the book
basic geographic concepts lead to sound advice. For instance, the author
emphasizes that no part of Britain is without maritime influence and that
late summer months are the least rainy. Or the visitor to Germany is alerted
to the importance of location and topography because "to understand her
location in the heart of Europe and to recognize her leadership in its total
economy is essential to any well balanced tour." The recommendations for
the Netherlands is to understand the Dutch people's reclamation of and
relation to the sea. Just as the story of Spain becomes clear only if one
realizes that this country has "the highest average altitude of any in
Europe" with uncertainty of rainfall.
. All in all, the author offers information which can come only from a
trained geographer. This reviewer knows from experience how inquisitive
the alert traveler becomes and how he repeats the same question in each
Western European country. "How did so little earthspace gain so much influence?"
This is the theme of East of Shannon-West of Moscow with the
subtitle "The Many Faces of Europe."
For a hoped-for second edition a few suggestions might be in order.
The book refers only in its title to Shannon Airport, while throughout the
book more emphasis could be given to airports and air travel. The selection
of highlights for sightseeing seems arbitrary. Even if you can not name
them all, places lil