Well, it's about time someone pays attention. David Brooks urges young minds to enter the field of cultural geography. Too bad his alma matter doesn't take it very seriously. Then again neither do these big Chicago universities.

Oddly, in a city that owes its success almost entirely to its relative geography and that also continuously parades its cultural geographic importance, its major universities all but ignore the subject of cultural geography. It's all sociology, public policy, and social work in the City of Broad Shoulders.

Instead, you have to go to the west coast if you want to join the elite geography schools.

Anyway, back to Brooks. He's almost right. There are a lot of great brains in cultural geography already. But, it is true that there's a lot of room to grow and a lot of topics waiting for a dominant author.

But, Brooks will be disappointed to find that the best schools embrace the neocon-dreaded notions of multiculturalism and poststructuralism. And, that geography is also an important point of critique on Empire and globalization.