*The Center for American Places is excited to announce
our merger with Columbia College Chicago, effective 1 October 2007!
Please see our contact information and press release (PDF file) for details.

The Challenge

"Americans are woefully ignorant of geography and of place—ignorant, that is, of the natural and humanly constructed worlds that have nurtured us, inspired us, and, sad to say, too often frustrated us. It is hard to imagine concretely how we can envisage the good life (the humane life), and plan for the future, unless we have some clear idea as to the sort of places that we wish to exist."

Yi-Fu Tuan, Founding Board Member, Center for American Places

The Center and Its Mission

The Center for American Places is a department of Columbia College Chicago, a tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

The Center was founded in 1990 by former Johns Hopkins University Press editor George F. Thompson (see About the Founder) with fellow geographers, writers, and artists Charles E. Little, J. B. Jackson, Cotton Mather, Yi-Fu Tuan, Bonnie Loyd, Gregory Conniff, Martha A. Strawn, William Howarth, Thomas C. Hunt, Richard Beamish, and Henry Tom.

The Center's publishing program is designed to enhance the public's understanding of, appreciation for, and affection for the places of the Americas the rest of the world—whether urban, suburban, rural, or wild. We are guided by the view that books provide the intellectual and emotional foundation for comprehending—and caring for—the places where we live, work, and commune. As we like to say:

Books live. Books endure. Books make a difference. Books are gifts to civilization.

The Publishing Program
Guidelines to Authors
Making a Difference
About the Founder and Director
How to Contribute
Contact Information

The Publishing Program

Our goal is to develop and produce books of lasting value for the classroom and the common reader. The Center brings to publication, on average, 15-20 books per year, under the Center's own imprint and occasionally in association with publishing partners such as the University of Chicago Press.

The Center's publishing program continues to pioneer a new path in place-based study in a wide range of academic and artistic fields. For more information about how to publish with the Center, please email us at: americanplaces[at]colum.edu.

Guidelines to Authors

The best way to get started is to email or call the Center to make certain that we can be of assistance in bringing an author's book to publication. It is always best to talk about an author's topic, and whether it is completed, in-progress, or just an idea, before sending anything in. At this point in time, we are not accepting new material until April 2008, so please contact us to schedule a submission date and to receive author guidelines.

Making a Difference

Since 1990 the Center has brought to publication more than 320 books, winning more than100 publishing awards, prizes, and honors, including the PEN Center U.S.A. West's Best Book of Nonfiction (Richard Misrach's Bravo 20: The Bombing of the American West) and multiple best-book honors in 31 academic fields. Center books are recognized for making the necessary connections between art and science, history and geography, photography and literature, architecture and landscape design and planning.

Center books sell equally well to specialists and generalists alike, and they appear in the nation's leading bookstores. Center books also garner significant review attention, with recent notices in the Booklist, The Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, Library Journal, Geographical Review, and Landscape Architecture, among 500 other journals, newspapers, and magazines worldwide. Center books and authors are also occasionally featured on Public Radio and Television.

About the Founder and Director

George F. Thompson, founder, president, and publisher, from 1984 to 1989 worked as an acquisitions editor for the Johns Hopkins University Press, where he developed numerous book programs, including the Creating the North American Landscape and other book series. Among the five books he has co-authored and edited are Ecological Design and Planning with Frederick R. Steiner (John Wiley, 1997) and Landscape in America (Texas, 1995), which was designated a Notable Book for 1995 by Harper’s magazine. He was educated at the Universities of Pennsylvania, Alabama, and Wisconsin-Madison.

In April 2000, the Association of American Geographers conferred upon Mr. Thompson the AAG Publication Award for his appreciation of seminal themes in geography and for his deep and continued commitment to encouraging creative scholarship on the American landscape. Mr. Thompson remains the first and only individual to receive this lifetime achievement award. Previous winners have been Rand McNally & Company and the University of Chicago Press.

In 2002, Mr. Thompson received a citation from the Vernacular Architecture Forum for his lifelong contributions to landscape studies through the Creating the North American Landscape series; in 2005, the Communications Award from the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture, a lifetime achievement award; and, in 2006, one of eight “players of the year in photography” as designated by Photo District News. He was also included in the 60th (2005) and 61st (2006), and 62nd (2007) Editions of Who’s Who in America.

How to Contribute

The first way you can contribute to the Center for American Places is by making cash or non-cash donations. (People who make an annual cash donation of $100 or more receive a 50% discount on all CAP books.) All donations are tax-deductible as allowed by law.

A second way is by purchasing Center books directly from us. See our order form for details.

A third way to suport the Center is by putting us in touch with other kindred spirits who might be interested in our book program.

We are most grateful to all those who contribute financially and otherwise to the Center. Without the support of our friends and patrons our job would be much more difficult. Inquiries are welcome and should be directed to George F. Thompson, founder and president. See contact information below.

(left) George F. Thompson, the Center's Founder, Publisher, and now Director under the Center for American Places at Columbia College Chicago. (right) George F. Thompson next to Ernest Lewis Toney Jr., on his last day. Ernest, from Farmville, VA, was a Chelsea Miller Goin intern from 2004-2006. Ernest created the Center's marketing database and assisted in exhibitions and public relations.

Contact Information:

At the Center for American Places, we strive every day to make a difference through books, research, and education. For more information about getting published, our other educational programs, and how the Center might be of service to you and your organization, please contact us: