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Cover: World Regional Geography; Digital Update, 8th Edition by Lydia Pulsipher; Alex Pulsipher; Ola Johansson

World Regional Geography; Digital Update

Eighth Edition  ©2026 Lydia Pulsipher; Alex Pulsipher; Ola Johansson Formats: Achieve, E-book, Print

Authors

  • Headshot of Lydia Mihelic Pulsipher

    Lydia Mihelic Pulsipher

    Lydia Mihelic Pulsipher is a cultural-historical geographer who studies the landscapes and lifeways of ordinary people through the lenses of archaeology, geography, and ethnography. She has contributed to several geography-related exhibits at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., including “Seeds of Change,” which featured the research she and Conrad Goodwin did in the eastern Caribbean. Lydia Pulsipher has ongoing research projects in the eastern Caribbean (historical archaeology) and in central Europe, where she is interested in various aspects of the post-Communist transition and social inclusion policies in the European Union. Her graduate students have studied human ecology issues in the Caribbean and border issues and issues of national identity and exclusion in several central European countries. She has taught cultural, gender, European, North American, and Mesoamerican geography at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville since 1980; through her research, she has given many students their first experience in fieldwork abroad. Previously she taught at Hunter College and Dartmouth College. She received her B.A. from Macalester College, her M.A. from Tulane University, and her Ph.D. from Southern Illinois University. For personal enjoyment, she works in her gardens, cans the produce, bakes rhubarb pies, and encourages the musical talents of her grandchildren.


  • Headshot of Alex Pulsipher

    Alex Pulsipher

    Alex A. Pulsipher is an independent scholar in Knoxville, Tennessee, who has conducted research on vulnerability to climate change, sustainable communities, and the diffusion of green technologies in the United States. In the early 1990s, Alex spent time in South Asia working for a sustainable development research center. He then completed a B.A. at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, writing his undergraduate thesis on the history of Hindu nationalism. Beginning in 1995, Alex contributed to the research and writing of the first edition of World Regional Geography with Lydia Pulsipher. Since then he has continued to write and restructure content for subsequent editions, and has created innumerable maps and over 120 photo essays.   He has also traveled to South America, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Europe to collect information in support of the text and for the Web site.  In addition to his work on World Regional Geography, Alex developed the first, second, and third editions of World Regional Geography Concepts. He has a master’s degree in geography from Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts.


  • Headshot of Ola Johansson

    Ola Johansson

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Geography: An Exploration of Connections

Chapter 2 North America

Chapter 3 Middle and South America

Chapter 4 Europe

Chapter 5 Russia and the Post-Soviet States

Chapter 6 North Africa and Southwest Asia

Chapter 7 Sub-Saharan Africa

Chapter 8 South Asia

Chapter 9 East Asia

Chapter 10 Southeast Asia

Chapter 11 Oceania: Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific

Epilogue 1 Polar Regions

Epilogue 2 Space

Product Updates

Features of the Updated Eighth Edition

In this eighth edition digital update, we continue to portray the rich diversity of human life across the world and humanize geographic issues by representing the lives of women, men, and children in the various regions of the globe. We also continue to update the data we use in the text and maps and the analysis we offer, in particular reorienting discussions from focusing on problems to presenting possible solutions. In striving to reach these goals, we have made this edition of World Regional Geography as up-to-date, instructive, and visually appealing as possible. Highlights of the update include:

  • Coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Coverage of Covid’s impact on globalization, economies, and demographics
  • Coverage of Brexit’s impact
  • Updated coverage of migrants and refugees in Europe
  • Coverage of the impact of an aging population
  • Updated climate change coverage throughout
  • Updated coverage of the U.S. steel industry and service sector jobs
  • Updated coverage of smartphones and the internet in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia
  • Updated coverage of China’s political and social controls
  • Updated data and statistics throughout every chapter
  • Figures updated throughout to improve visual accessibility

Bringing global issues to life by portraying the daily lives of men, women, and children

Pulsipher’s World Regional Geography shows the rich diversity of human life and demystifies global issues by representing the daily lives of men, women, and children in the various regions of our globe. Achieve and the updated eighth edition continue to make global issues accessible to students through a thematic framework, hands-on assessment and interactives, and tools that spark curiosity within every learner, no matter their background.

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Lydia Pulsipher; Alex Pulsipher; Ola Johansson | Eighth Edition | ©2026 | ISBN:9781319572730

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