Note 190 — II A Sketch of the History of the Idea of Milieu Since the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century

For the rôle of the physical milieu in American history, cf. also: Justin Winsor, The Mississippi Basin, The Struggle in America between England and France: 1697–1763 (Boston & N. Y., 1898) [influence of geography over history during colonization and settlement]; Frederick Jackson Turner, Rise of the New West: 1819–1829 (N. Y. & London: Harper & Brothers, 1906) [vol. 14 of The American Nation, A History, ed. by A. B. Hart, in 27 vols. In the Author’s Preface, p. XVII, Turner remarks: “In the present volume I have kept before myself the importance of regarding American development as the outcome of economic and social as well as political forces.” And, he should have added, of geographical environment. Vide especially the first half of his book for the working out of his milieu idea]; James Bryce, The American Commonwealth, (2 vols., new ed., completely revised, N. Y.: Macmillan, 1910–11) [see vol. 2, ch. 91 (pp. 449–68), “The home of the nation,” for a statement of the influence of physical conditions on American history]; E. C. Semple, American History and Its Geographic Conditions (Boston & N. Y.: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1903, 435 pp.) [regarded, I believe, as one of the best treatises on the subject]; A. P. Brigham, Geographic Influences in American History (Boston: Ginn, 1903, 355 pp.) [a concrete essay; has much physiography; includes present conditions]; A. M. Simons, Social Forces in American History (N. Y.: Macmillan, 1914, 325 pp.) [a discussion of the effect of the industrial and economic environment on social institutions in America]; perhaps it may be added here that some American universities offer a course on the relation of geography to American history.