atlases and maps

As a reader I like to have quick reference books at my finger tips including a new version of the Oxford English Dictionary about 3500 pages long - that I use almost daily. So I decided to add a "history atlas". In the process of doing my research I read the other amazon.com reviewers and then made three trips to two large book stores to actually look at the books and get a better feel for which was the best. I ended up buying the Oxford Atlas of World History. Here are my picks and rankings.

Listed by My ranking, #1 is the best, #2 is a creative alternative but no substitute.

1. Atlas of World History, Oxford University Press 2002, 368 pages, $57.80, 13.5" x 10.3" x 1.62" ranked 46,632 on Amazon.com. Hands down winner - professional - good text descriptions, outstanding maps and drawings, covers most things from the cave man forward. Negatives: Big and heavy. If you want to save a few dollars buy the "concise" version.

2. Creative alternative: The Penguin Atlas of World History, Penguin Books 2004, $11.20, just a paperback sized, just published, 304 pages. Surprisingly impressive, lots of text and pictures mixed together and it is easy to carry around. A nice quick alternative but it will be printed in two volumes.
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3. Timelines of World History, DK Publishing 2002, 666 pages, $27.20. 10.0" x 1.6" ranked 25,800 on Amazon.com. Second with lots of value but in some ways not as comprehensive.

4. National Geographic Almanac of World History, National Geographic 2003, 384 pages, $28.00, 9.6" x 7.8" x 1.17" ranked 24,426 on Amazon.com. Similar to but less impressive than Oxford books. More text, narrower coverage, fewer maps and drawings.

5. DK Atlas of World History, DK Publishing, 352 pages, $35.00, 10.96" x 14.66" x 1.28" ranked 10,716 on Amazon.com. My 4th or 5th place book seems like a giant comic book. I love the DK travel books but this seems like one step beyond DK's area of expertise. Superficially it is similar to the Oxford book and it is cheaper to buy, and some might like it but it tries to be politically correct and fails.

6. Oxford Dictionary of World History, Oxford University Press, 704 pages, $7,66, pocketbook sized, sales rank 330,000. Mainly terms, people, and dates but has a few maps also. Limited use but an alternative. I prefer the new Penguin book but this is the best history dictionary to buy.

Jack in Toronto

The DK Atlas of World History: Mapping the Human Journey is a huge top shelf book. It is divided into two parts: the first gives the reader a global view of history divided into different eras(e.g.the advent of agriculture, trade and first cities, the age of the crusades,etc.), the second describes regional history (North America, South America, Africa, Europe,West Asia, South and South East Asia, Noth and East Asia, Oceania, the Arctic and Antarctica).In both parts you will find numerous time lines with the important dates, small color illustrations and short paragraphs about the events covered.At the end of the book there is a subject index and glossary and an index with all the place names shown on the maps.Finally there is a two page bibliography.

There is no question that this is a very beautiful book with pleasant pastel colors, pleasant, glossy paper and maps of different sizes and seen under different angles, which avoids monotony.

Having said that, it is also clear for an attentive reader that the editor has been at pains to be absolutely politically correct, which means:
-ostentatious use of BCE and CE instead of AD and BC
-gross neglect of Christianity: whereas the spread of Islam is worth a double page with big maps in both sections of the Atlas, there is not a single chapter or map about the spread or history of Christianity, which is amazing, considering its importance for the "human journey". In the index, Jesus is nonchalantly called "the inspiration of the Christian religion" (is it an abstract character, one wonders), crucified as a "troublemaker in 29 CE". Strangely enough, Buddha and Muhammad are called "founders" of their respective religions, which is quite true but why deny the title to Christ?
The entry for "Christianity" is also enlightening: here we are told that the early Christian faith, which is decribed as an "offshoot of Judaism", split from the very beginning into "many sects". Never mind the same happened to Islam, there is no mention of any heresies or infighting inside that religion at the corresponding entry.
I also could not find a single time line showing the birth or death of Jesus and other great Christians like Paul and Peter.
-neglect of European history: although European history is the best documented, in this atlas it is treated on the same level as Africa or Australia, which means that at least a dozen chapters and scores of maps are missing for the serious student of history.

Being anti-Christian and anti-European are, as some have rightly said, the last acceptable prejudices.

Ok...I've owned both The Hammond Atlas of World History and The DK Atlas of World History for a few years now. I've always felt like I needed to retain the Hammond because of it's "scholarly" reputation. But the DK Atlas is just more fun! I spent an hour just perusing all the information presented concerning Napoleon's empire and retreat from Russia (yes, this atlas does have depth). The setup makes much more sense: Part I is a global view of the rise and fall of empires over the centuries, while Part II gives you close up of regions of the world, which are also easy to follow. The encyclopedic glossary of 20,000 entires gets an A+. Last but not least, if you're buying a historical atlas for maps, the DK has no equal. My only recommendation is if you buy this atlas, pick up a copy of the late JM Roberts "Short History of the World". They complement each other very nicely when former names of regions come into play you can plainly see where they were located with the DK.