Book excerpt: Making Population Geography is a lively account of the intellectual history of population geography, arguing that, while population geography may drift in and out of fashion, it must continue to supplement its demographic approach with a renewed emphasis on cultural and political accounts of compelling population topics, such as HIV-AIDS, sex trafficking, teen pregnancy, citizenship and global ageing, in order for it to shed light on contemporary society. Making Population Geography draws both on the writings of those like Wilbur Zelinsky and Pat Gober who were at the very epicentre of spatial science in the 1960s and those like Michael Brown and Yvonne Underhill-Sem whose post-punk introspections of method, content and purpose, now push the field in new directions. Using a wide range of case studies, contemporary examples and current research, the book links the rise and fall of the key concepts in population geography to the changing social and economic context and to geographys turn towards social theory. Referencing the authors classroom experiences both in the US and the UK, Making Population Geography will appeal to students studying geography, population issues and the development of critical scholarship.