Military Geographies. R. Woodward. 2004. Blackwell Publishing, Williston, VT. 196 pp. $39.95 paperback.

Military impacts tend to summon images associated with the ravages of conflict: landscapes worn by battle, ruined buildings turned into rubble, and the horrifying magnitude of people killed. Preparation for armed conflict, however, is an endless operation that takes place on different fields. In Military Geographies, Rachel Woodward explores the imprint of military preparedness on the economic, social, and political life, with the hope of improving the study of non-conflict military geography in research and teaching. The themes covered in the book include (1) geographies of control over space, (2) military economic geographies, (3) militarized environments, (4) military landscapes, and (5) challenges to military geographies. These themes focus predominantly on the United Kingdom's military, with few examples from the United States and other countries with advanced capitalist economies.