Bret Wallach
Professor of Geography

Bret Wallach (Ph.D., UC Berkeley, 1968) joined the OU faculty in 1981, after some years at the University of Maine at Fort Kent and, farther back still, appointments at the University of Victoria, B.C., the Pennsylvania State University, and UC Riverside. A cultural geographer with regional interests, his work in recent years has centered on the impact of modernization on the traditional landscapes of Asia and the Middle East. Below is a fairly complete list of his publications, some of which are available in revised form with a click. You may also see his greatmirror.com, a collection of photographs he's taken over the years.

Books

Understanding the Cultural Landscape. New York: the Guilford Press, 2004. [About the Author Link]

For the Companion to UCL, click here.

Losing Asia: Modernization and the Culture of Development. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1996.

Chapter 1 - A World at Risk
Chapter 2 - The Spirit of the Place: India Before the British
Chapter 3 - The Western Wind: Modernization Comes to Rural India
Chapter 4 - Irrigation in British India
Chapter 5 - Farming in British India
Chapter 6 - Village Development
Chapter 7 - The Heartland: Rural Development in Northwest India
Chapter 8 - The Periphery: Rural Development in Hunza

At Odds with Progress: Americans and Conservation. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1991.

Chapter 1 - Potato Snows
Chapter 2 - Plumbing in the Empty Quarter
Chapter 3 - Three Disguises
Chapter 7 - A New Epic: North Dakota's Little Missouri National Grassland

Book Chapters, etc.

"Physical Environment of the Great Plains." In Encyclopedia of the Great Plains, edited by David Wishart. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2004.

"Belief systems." In Encyclopedia of Global Change, edited by A. Goudie. Oxford University Press, 2001.

"Six Flags Over Norman." In Regional Geography of the United States and Canada, Second edition, by Tom McKnight. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1997.

"The Telltale Southern Plains." In Many Wests: Place, Culture, and Regional Identity, edited by D. Wrobel and M. Steiner. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1997.

Articles

"Continuity and Change in the Paddy Lands of the Kandy District" , Sri Lanka Journal of the Humanities , 31 (2005), pp. 35-54.

"A Window on the West Bank," Geographical Review, 2000.

"Will Carl Sauer Make It Across That Great Bridge to the Next Millennium?" Yearbook of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers 61 (1999), pp. 129-136.

"A Slightly Varnished History of the Department of Geography at the University of Oklahoma." Southwestern Geographer 3 (1999), pp. 59-82.

"In Memoriam: James J. Parsons, 1915-1997." Annals of the Association of American Geographers 88 (1998), pp. 316-328.

"Painting, Art History, and Geography." Geographical Review 87:1 (1997).

"The Evolution of an Idea." Focus 43:4 (Winter 1993), pp.17-22.

"Oklahoma: When the Jokes Wear Thin." Focus 42:4 (Winter 1992), pp. 32-37.

"Northern Pakistan: Character, Beauty, Tears." Focus 42:3 (Fall 1992), pp. 31-36.

"India: Learning Curves." Focus 41:3 and 41:4 (Fall and Winter1991), pp. 28-34 and 25-29.

"The Ecology of Our Lives." National Geographic Research & Exploration 7:1 (Winter 1991), pp. 6-7.

"China: Temples of Heaven." Focus 40:4 (Winter 1990): 24-30. and 41:1 (Spring 1991): 12-18.

"South Africa: Seeing for One's Self." Focus 40:1-3 (Spring, Summer, Fall 1990), pp. 21-6, 30-35, 27-32.

"Hong Kong: Bound and Adrift." Focus 39:3 (Fall 1989), pp. 17-25.

"Puerto Rico: Growth, Change, Progress, Development." Focus 39:2 (Summer 1989), pp. 27-33.

"Water for Morocco's Rivers of Palms." Garden 13:3 (May/June 1989), pp. 12-17.

"Dallas: A Beast With Ears." Focus 39:1 (Spring 1989): 22-26.

"Improving Traditional Grassland Agriculture in Sudan." Geographical Review 79:2 (April 1989), pp. 143-160.

"Irrigation in Sudan Since Independence." Geographical Review 78:1 (October 1988), pp. 417-434.

"Taking Heart from Upper East Tennessee." Focus 38:4 (Winter 1988), pp. 22-27.

"A Homestead in the Canadian Rockies." Focus 38:3 (Fall 1988), pp. 25-29.

"Wanette and the Cross Timbers." Focus 38:2 (Summer 1988), pp. 21-26.

"Aleppo: In the Midst of Turmoil There are Peaceful Places." Focus 38:1 (1988), pp. 24-29.

"Building the Sudan." Focus 37:3 (Fall 1987), pp. 12-15.

"The Simplest of Counties." Focus 37:2 (Summer 1987), pp. 18-21.

"Cranbrook." Focus 37:1 (Spring 1987), pp. 16-19.

"Parkmerced." Focus 36:4 (Winter 1986), pp. 12-15.

"Geneva." Focus 36:3 (Fall 1986), pp. 10-13.

"Deforestation: The View from South India." Garden 9 (1986), pp. 8-15. Reprinted in Myforest 22:2 (1986), pp. 71-78.

"Vancouver Island." Focus 36:2 (Summer 1986), pp. 18-21.

"The Nile Valley." Focus 36:1 (Spring 1986), pp. 16-19.

"The Sudan Gezira." Focus 35:4 (October 1985), pp. 10-13.

"British Irrigation Works in India's Krishna Basin." Journal of Historical Geography 11:2 (1985), pp. 155-173.

"Dhaka, Bangladesh." Focus 35:3 (July 1985), pp. 10-13.

"The Return of the Prairie." Landscape 28:3 (1985), pp. 1-6.

"Manaus, Brazil." Focus 35:1, January 1985, pp. 8-11.

"Irrigation Developments in the Krishna Basin since 1947." Geographical Review 74:2 (April 1984), pp. 127-144.

"In the Nizam's Dominions." Landscape 28:1 (1984), pp. 1-6.

"The Facsimile Fallacy." American Review of Canadian Studies 12:2 (1982), pp. 82-86.

"The Slighted Mountains of Upper East Tennessee." Annals of the Association of American Geographers 71:3 (1981), pp. 359-373.

"Sheep Ranching in the Dry Corner of Wyoming." Geographical Review 71:1 (1981), pp. 51-63.

"Logging in Maine's Empty Quarter." Annals of the Association of American Geographers 70:4 (1980), pp. 542-552.

"The West Side Oil Fields of California." Geographical Review 70:1 (1980), pp. 50-59.

"The Potato Landscape: Aroostook County, Maine." Landscape 23:1 (1980), 15-22.

Unpublished Manuscripts

"Postcard from Los Angeles." Read at the Association of American Geographers annual meeting, Los Angeles, 2002.

"Postcard from New York." Read at the Association of American Geographers annual meeting, New York, 2001.

"A Turn in Trinidad." Read at the Association of American Geographers annual meeting, San Francisco, 1995.