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Atlas of World History
Book by Rand McNally
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1957
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 24, 2021
2021-02-24 - I picked up this old book at a used book fair when I was in High School and LOVED using it for reference while reading various history books, novels, and other books over the years.
It ain't perfect, but still great in adding so much value to what has gone on politically, in warfare, discovery, etc. over the centuries.
GREAT perspective builder.
Highly recommended.
The edition I have is copyrighted MCMLVII (1957?)
It ain't perfect, but still great in adding so much value to what has gone on politically, in warfare, discovery, etc. over the centuries.
GREAT perspective builder.
Highly recommended.
The edition I have is copyrighted MCMLVII (1957?)
August 23, 2012
I love this old book
November 27, 2020
I was lucky enough to get my copy of this book for a dollar from the Friends of the Detroit Public Library book sale some years ago, and I would definitely recommend that if you are similarly fortunate, and find an inexpensive copy available somewhere, you ought to take advantage of the opportunity. This atlas is neither the most detailed I have seen nor the most beautiful; it is also one of the smaller ones (roughly the same size as a traditional hardcover book) rather than one of the many "coffee-table sized" atlases which have been published over the years. Having said that, the comparatively small size of this book is one of many attributes that add up to make it one of the most useful atlases of which I am aware.
The most important feature of an atlas, of course, is the maps. The maps included here are of consistently good quality, and are detailed enough to be useful over a wide range of geographic areas and historical eras. Somewhat surprisingly, this is the case not only for the student or casual reader but to some extent more scholarly readers as well (with one important caveat- much of the scholarship here is outdated). That is unlikely to be true of equivalent reference works nowadays, which is no doubt another glaring example of the "dumbing down"*** of our culture generally and our educational system specifically over the past 40 years or so. I usually judge atlases, geography texts and similar works based on two categories which I have over many years found to be almost invariably indicative of general quality for works of this type. The first category is coverage of areas outside Europe & North America, specifically Asia & Africa, but also South America & Oceania. This atlas has fairly good coverage of Asia for the time; coverage of Africa, which obviously was still largely under colonial administration in 1957, is predictably not as good. In defense of the editors, large amounts of accurate contemporary information was simply not available regarding colonial possessions or recently independent nations at that time; given what they had to work with they did a reasonably good job. The second category has more to do specifically with the quality of cartography. One of the more extreme challenges for cartographers during the last few centuries has been mapping the various iterations of political boundaries in Central Europe, particularly with reference to the Holy Roman Empire and the process of German unification (not that the shifting boundaries between Austria-Hungary & Ottoman Turkey, for example, were easy to map!). There is an old history book somewhere in one of my boxes which features an absolutely gorgeous full colour fold-out map of the German States circa 1815; I usually evaluate all others in relation to that map. This present book doesn't match that extremely high standard, but it comes closer than one might have expected; once again not great, but very good.
All told, the fairly high quality maps and reasonably high level of scholarship, in addition to the convenient size, make this book extremely useful as a quick reference. I keep mine on a shelf with other assorted reference works roughly two steps from the desk in my library/office, and eventually when I get this room situated (i.e. build or otherwise obtain more bookcases) those particular reference books will be placed within arms reach...
***I first noticed this "dumbing down" as a child in 1981, while "helping" my school administrator father rearrange his office after the end of the school year. There were two stacks of textbooks on pallets at the end of the hall outside the offices- the new American History text which would be used starting that Fall, and the old text it was replacing. Even casually glancing through the two textbooks made it abundantly clear that the new text was glaringly inferior to the one it was meant to replace, and I pointed this out to my father. He explained that while he shared my view, a small but vocal group of parents had vociferously and repeatedly complained to the school board that the previous textbook was "too hard", demanding that it be changed, and the school board had complied with those demands. In other words, those parents had demanded that the school lower academic standards to accommodate their lazy, illiterate, ignorant and frequently stupid offspring- over the objections of teachers & school administrators, and to the detriment of all other students in the district.
The most important feature of an atlas, of course, is the maps. The maps included here are of consistently good quality, and are detailed enough to be useful over a wide range of geographic areas and historical eras. Somewhat surprisingly, this is the case not only for the student or casual reader but to some extent more scholarly readers as well (with one important caveat- much of the scholarship here is outdated). That is unlikely to be true of equivalent reference works nowadays, which is no doubt another glaring example of the "dumbing down"*** of our culture generally and our educational system specifically over the past 40 years or so. I usually judge atlases, geography texts and similar works based on two categories which I have over many years found to be almost invariably indicative of general quality for works of this type. The first category is coverage of areas outside Europe & North America, specifically Asia & Africa, but also South America & Oceania. This atlas has fairly good coverage of Asia for the time; coverage of Africa, which obviously was still largely under colonial administration in 1957, is predictably not as good. In defense of the editors, large amounts of accurate contemporary information was simply not available regarding colonial possessions or recently independent nations at that time; given what they had to work with they did a reasonably good job. The second category has more to do specifically with the quality of cartography. One of the more extreme challenges for cartographers during the last few centuries has been mapping the various iterations of political boundaries in Central Europe, particularly with reference to the Holy Roman Empire and the process of German unification (not that the shifting boundaries between Austria-Hungary & Ottoman Turkey, for example, were easy to map!). There is an old history book somewhere in one of my boxes which features an absolutely gorgeous full colour fold-out map of the German States circa 1815; I usually evaluate all others in relation to that map. This present book doesn't match that extremely high standard, but it comes closer than one might have expected; once again not great, but very good.
All told, the fairly high quality maps and reasonably high level of scholarship, in addition to the convenient size, make this book extremely useful as a quick reference. I keep mine on a shelf with other assorted reference works roughly two steps from the desk in my library/office, and eventually when I get this room situated (i.e. build or otherwise obtain more bookcases) those particular reference books will be placed within arms reach...
***I first noticed this "dumbing down" as a child in 1981, while "helping" my school administrator father rearrange his office after the end of the school year. There were two stacks of textbooks on pallets at the end of the hall outside the offices- the new American History text which would be used starting that Fall, and the old text it was replacing. Even casually glancing through the two textbooks made it abundantly clear that the new text was glaringly inferior to the one it was meant to replace, and I pointed this out to my father. He explained that while he shared my view, a small but vocal group of parents had vociferously and repeatedly complained to the school board that the previous textbook was "too hard", demanding that it be changed, and the school board had complied with those demands. In other words, those parents had demanded that the school lower academic standards to accommodate their lazy, illiterate, ignorant and frequently stupid offspring- over the objections of teachers & school administrators, and to the detriment of all other students in the district.
February 28, 2010
Isn't anywhere near comprehensive enough. The topics that are covered are interesting and valuable, but so much more is missing. Yes, there's a map and discussion of "Napoleon's Europe", but no map showing his drive to Russia. The Thirty Years War is given a map, but not the Hundred Years War. of course this would require a much larger book, but that's the point.
What would be really nice would be a "Pictographic Atlas of World History", with maps as well as stuff like genealogical charts of the European Dynasties (how was James of Scotland related to Henry VII?), or a flowchart showing the power struggles among the major families in Renaissance Italy (Medicis, Pazzis, etc).
Of course, I'd be about as happy with a website that had all of this, but Wikipedia hasn't figured out how to tackle this one yet.
What would be really nice would be a "Pictographic Atlas of World History", with maps as well as stuff like genealogical charts of the European Dynasties (how was James of Scotland related to Henry VII?), or a flowchart showing the power struggles among the major families in Renaissance Italy (Medicis, Pazzis, etc).
Of course, I'd be about as happy with a website that had all of this, but Wikipedia hasn't figured out how to tackle this one yet.
March 1, 2014
This was the historical atlas sold in the Maine Township High School South bookstore as an adjunct to courses. I probably picked it up for Jim Gottreich's sophomore year World History and have used it ever since, many times. While certainly not the best atlas of its kind, this edition has the advantage of cloth covers and convenient size, making it a back-packable adjunct to any number of history books read in the years since.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews