41 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This Atlas Kicks ... !, April 28, 2002
This review is from: Atlas of World History (Hardcover)
I wanted to buy the best atlas of world history so I went to the library and looked through the top 3 atlases, namely Times/Hammond, Oxford, and DK. DK was clearly the nicest and most elegant of them, but contained little text and had lots of world maps in places where it should have had detailed close up maps of the regions. I eventually chose Hammond 5th edition, the most expensive of them all, and ordered it. Then in a local bookstore I found this book and because of its low cost I said "what the heck" and bought it. I am glad I did because in my opinion it is better than all the rest including Hammond. Whenever I want to look something up I go to this book first. When comparing the same events in this book and Hammond, I find that in many cases (but not all) this book provides a better and more detailed explanation.
This book is amazingly well organized. Each chapter starts with about 5 world maps spanning hundreads of years. (hammond doesn't have this). Followed by nice and detailed maps of each region. Color is used very well. The maps are mostly the same size so you can easily compare them and visually assimilate the information better. Each map has a timeline and a list of about 7 key events/battles that happened during that time.
The quality of this book matches or exceeds the quality of the major atlases. You do not need a better general world history atlas book than this. And the fact that the price is so low, gives you no reason not to buy this book. Goto the library/bookstore and compare the atlases, and you'll see this one is good enough for all your needs.
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33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best combination of quality, features, and price, September 19, 2002
This review is from: Atlas of World History (Hardcover)
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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24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A real bargain at $20! Beautiful and interesting., December 15, 2000
This review is from: Atlas of World History (Hardcover)
Haywood's book is not the best of the world history atlasses, but easily the best bargain. For twenty bucks you get a beautiful, large, full-color book, with clear, accurate maps. I might prefer that the text was a bit more general, with fewer obscure historical details--at times, the text is oddly esoteric. Still, the book offers broad brushstrokes about agrigculture, technology, world religions, and empires. I also appreciate the diversity of the discussion: Africa and Asia get a healthy amount of attention, so that the book feels more truly like *world* (and not European) history. I could quibble here and there with parts of the book, but the book is gorgeous, pleasurable, and at the price, this is an outstanding achievement.
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