Meinig, Donald (1924–)

Until his retirement in 2004 as Maxwell Research Professor of Geography at Syracuse University, Donald W. Meinig was one of North America's most accomplished and productive historical geographers. A native of the Palouse region of eastern Washington State, Meinig received his MA (1950) and PhD (1953) from the University of Washington and taught at the University of Utah before joining the faculty of Syracuse University in 1959. During his long and distinguished career, Meinig produced a series of highly praised studies that provided new interpretations of the historical and cultural forces that shaped several distinct American regions, including the Northwest, Mormon country, the Southwest, and Texas.

Meinig devoted the last two decades of his professional career to a monumental four-volume series, The Shaping of America: A ...