Bunge, William(1928–)

William Bunge, American geographer, is accurately self-described as a quantitative analyst, spatial theorist, radical humanist, and Marxist geographer, and even at times as “Wild Bill.” Bunge did not operate well within the constrained modes of conventional academia, but his stellar significance in world geography is firmly based on a number of extraordinary theoretical and empirical contributions and on a fierce determination to participate in efforts to fight injustice and change society.

Bunge was born in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, of German American heritage and with possibly a 1/16th Ojibwa background. Despite his radicalism, he served in the U.S. Fifth Army during the Korean War (1950–1952), teaching atomic warfare at the Chemical, Biological and Radiological Warfare School. He received his MA in 1955 at the University of Wisconsin under ...