Atlas of World History

User Review: - As a reference source, as a history book, as a bargain, this atlas is TOPS!
A single volume; a great price; wonderful, clear illustrations and fascinating text -- this is a superb one-volume companion for any reader of history who wants to be able quickly to visualize the geography he or she is reading about. The maps are clear and excellent, and the index is comprehensive, giving the book great utility as a reference source. But the book is more than a reference; each two-age spread is its own self-contained "chapter" of fascinating, well-written historic insights and timeline-analysis into a region's or a period's history. Some reviews fault the book for being Eurocentric; on the contrary, I found that its "global" approach -- given the size constraints of a one-volume, manageable book -- was refreshing and modern. Hunt the internet for more inexpensive copies; I got it new from the Chicago Theological Seminary Co-op bookstore at a great price.

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User Review: - Easy to understand history at a glance!
Many people are interested in history, but find their own history to be much more transparent than other parts of the globe. This is reinforced by a school system that, in North America, concentrates on European and American history, ignoring two-thirds of the world.

I will soon be teaching history to a new generation of students, and I can tell you: it doesn't get much easier when you study more. History students often end up knowing a patchwork - vast amounts of information about Europe or China, but very little about other important areas such as India or Africa, and with very little idea of what was going on in China at the time of Rome, or vice versa.

John Haywood's 'Atlas of World History' is just the book you need to fix this problem.

Large, beautifully clear maps occupy every inch of this book, with timelines and summaries around them to give readers a brief overview of the period in question. Every chapter of world history is summarized with a world map that quite clearly shows states and tribes around the world, giving one a breathtaking hint to what was going on. Other maps - the majority - concentrate on a particular period of time in a particular part of the world. Europe still gets more attention than other regions, but this is almost unavoidable in history - there is just so much information available! However, other parts of the world can come to startling life in front of you, making the history of India, China or Africa into digestable, comfortable chunks easy to understand.

The only downside to this magnificent book is that it is only a summary. To understand history in depth, you need something that has focus, not breadth. But to understand history as a whole, this book is indispensable.

It is a rare treasure that I hope you enjoy as much as I do - although the book is slightly outdated now, it continues to outclass newer versions by other publishers, and will always occupy a special spot on my bookcase.

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User Review: - Good History Atlas that is affordable for anyone
This History Atlas is probably the best generally available. I find it to be very good as a general overview of history timelines with maps and charts. It doesn't really dig deep; it is the proverbial two miles and two inches deep view of history.

For a through understanding a reader should move on to other books. That being said any true student of history needs to have a good overview of things before they can dig into the details. And this good gives a great overview of the major topics. Which is why I would recommend it to people.

One group that could really benefit from a book like this, of course, are high school students studying history or social studies or whatever they are calling that class now a day. A provides a way to understand an outline at a glance which is very useful for a student. I know I wish I had something like this book in high school or even college.

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User Review: - Absolutely Fantastic!
This is a terrific gem of a world history atlas. As a history undergraduate, I wanted an atlas that would give me an opprotunity to explore a multitude of historical periods with inpsiring maps and elegant prose. Do not be fooled by the price on this fantastic Atlas, it is worth its weight in gold.

The atlas starts with early human history and migration, moves into the prehistorical world, then the ancient world, then the medieval period (my personal specialty), the early modern period, and finally the modern period. The scholarly aptitude utilized in the writing of this atlas is beyond comparision. The maps are vibrant and extremely well-done.

Truely, I can not recommend a better book for anyone interested in gleaning an overall view of world (Western, Eastern, and everything in between) history.

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User Review: - The best combination of quality, features, and price
Recently I did a detailed comparison of the 5 or 6 major offerings in this area, which includes such traditional notables as the big Hammond atlas and the one from Oxford University Press, as well as the Dorling-Kindersley one, but this atlas is the best combination of features and price out there. It's only a fraction of the cost of the big Hammond one, for example, and is cheaper than the other two by at least 50%.

So I agree with several of the other reviewers here, that this atlas really rocks, and that in many ways it's better than any of the more famous other offerings in this field on the market, including the massive Hammond one and DK ones, which, as I mentioned, are a lot more expensive.

I've read my share of ancient history books, and this atlas is just the best way to get a good overview quickly of a particular time frame and period. I've used it to clarify many aspects of ancient history, for example, when I got lost in the details in reading more standard histories on the subject. In reading your typical ponderous history, it's so easy to lose the forest for the trees, and there is no better solution for the problem than this book.

Another nice feature of the book is that periodically throughout the text there will be essays at key years or junctures in history, such as "The World in 1914," or "The World in 800 BC," or whatever, in addition to the more topically oriented essays, such as "Old Kingdom Egypt," or "The Persian Empire," or "The Warring States (referring to 5th A.D. century China) which give you further historical perspectives on the events of the time.

The book is organized into two-page spreads with the essays and their corresponding maps and illustrations. According to the jacket text, the book was also prepared with the aid of graphics experts and geographers skilled at combining the written word with visual illustrations and graphics. I would say they and John Haywood succeeded admirably, making this a great book just to browse casually, or read more seriously. Haywood also writes very well and has a nice, deft touch with the material that avoids the dry, technical-sounding quality of some atlases.

Another nice feature of the book is the detailed, color-coded timelines that accompany each two-page spread, which some atlases don't always include or set aside in a separate section of the book. This makes it easier to use and more informative since it can be referred to along with the maps and the text.

My only fault with the book is that the coverage is typically Eurocentric, but this really only applies to the DK atlas, which is suprisingly strong in terms of its coverage of Asian, African, and non-European history in general. All the others are more Eurocentric, like this one.

Keep in mind that this book (like all atlases) aims at breadth rather than depth, since it covers the entire history of the world from man's earliest origins up to modern times. Overall a great altas and a fine book to keep you oriented in whatever period of history you are reading on.

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