Customer Reviews

Atlas of American Military History

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The book starts out with a summary of the colonial-era wars and then goes to into the Revolutionary War. From then on it really covers every major and many minor military conflicts the United States has been in. The biggest sections cover the Civil War and World War II. Being called an "atlas" means the primary selling point is the maps. And the maps do not disappoint. All of the maps are clearly illustrated and consistently illustrated throughout the book. If you want to, say, find Pickett's Charge on a map of the Battle of Gettysburg, you will have no trouble at all.

I was glad to see that not only the major wars covered, but several minor conflicts got covered, too. There is a section covering the Boxer Rebellion and a map showing the invasion of Panama in 1989. Pretty much any conflict of significance gets some mention here.

Being called American history does leave out some things. For example, the section on World War II starts out right at Pearl Harbor with no explanation of the events that preceded it. Also, maps only cover American troop movements (or in some allies if they worked closely with the Americans). So some things like the eastern front of World War II get no coverage here.

I loved this book. Seeing the clearly illustrated maps really helped me understand how some of the United States' most significant battles played out. If you are interested in American military history, I would not hesitate to buy a copy of this.

This atlas, which is 12 in by 9 in and has 248 pages, is broken into eight sections and 28 chapters of American History. The Atlas begins with a brief introduction and a credible eight page Chronology. Historical coverage begins in the 16th century with France, Spain and England trying to settle Florida and works its way from the French and Indian Wars, our Revolution, Civil War, WWI, WWII, and ends with the Afghan war in the early 2000s. This is just a sampling for it covers all of our disputes including, to my surprise, Cuba, Panama, and the rest of Central America of the early 20th century.

The biggist section concerns WWII and is closely followed by the colonization period including the American Revolution, followed by the years of the new Republic and then the Civil War. The Korean War, Viet Nam War, WWI and Iraq are second tier catagories. The high level overview is good, giving good breadth of coverage but not a lot of depth. It is sufficient to give the basics and allow the reader to decide if further study is warranted.

There are 225 color maps that are populated with key towns, rivers and other prominent terrain features as well as troop movements. The maps are good and have nice eye appeal and should satisfy most readers. There are maps for practically every major event covered so its just a matter of finding the one you want. In addition to the many illustrations, there are also many photos; many are key personalities that are mentioned in the stories.

There is also a page of contributors, an extensive Bibliography and Index. The Bibliography has eminent books providing further study if desired but it would have been better to have provided a more extensive reading list to cover the wide range of topics included in the overview. A number of websites is also provided. A map list is missing which is a little disappointing but its not a major concern. Using the Table of Contents and Index, should get you close to the map you want.
This is a quality volume and would be a great learning tool for child or adult. Its highly recommended.