Customer Reviews

Atlas of World History

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This atlas is great for looking up those events, both momentous and not-so-momentous, to get a quick grasp and overview of the situation without getting bogged down in some more detailed and ponderous history. If it weren't for John Haywood's Atlas of World History, I would say it's possibly the best one out there in relation to features and price. However, I have a preference for the Haywood volume because I found his writing style more interesting, not to mention the fact that his book is less than half the price of O'Brien's volume. While I would not wish to base a decision just on price, I would point out that I preferred either of these two books to the Hammond atlas, which is even more expensive, and the Times atlas, at almost twice the cost, and the Dorling-Kindersley, which, although a superb atlas, is still 20% higher.

While I'm at it, I'd like to say something about O'Brien's Atlas of World History, published by Philips. I mention it here since no matter how I search, I can't find this atlas listed anywhere, but this is a really superb atlas, and I think exceeds even the present volume in terms of quality and features. So if you can find this one, I'd also pick up a copy. Because it's so good, I'd also like to discuss it here.

All the of the big 5 or 6 major atlases out there have their strengths and weaknesses, and their pros and cons, I've discovered, and this one is no different. This one has one terrific feature that's worth mentioning specifically. At the end of the book O'Brien includes many fine articles summing up the state of the world since 1945 for the major areas and countries of the world, and for topics such as demographic changes, the growth of population, civil rights and women's rights, health and disease, transport and trade relations, the breakup of empires, and so on. O'Brien discusses in the introduction that this atlas was motivated partly by the upcoming millenium year, and because it seemed like such a timely point at which to assess and sum up much of the changes and progress that had accrued during the last half century or century in these articles. O'Brien did a great job in this area, and it's one of the book's many strengths. Overall, an excellent atlas given all the outstanding features, and I'd actually give it 4.5 stars if I could.

Since I started writing this review, I've discovered (through having purchased both books), that the Philips volume and the Oxford atlas are exactly the same book, just by different publishers. The only difference that I can find is that the Philips book is somewhat larger format. I'm comparing them right now, and the Philips book is about 1 inch wider and about 2 inches taller than the Oxford volume. This means the fonts for the paragraph text and the print on the maps are somewhat bigger and easier to read. They both have exactly the same--312--number of pages, and the publication dates are in 2001 and 2002, so they're very close there. However, I just noticed that the Philips book on the copyright page says "This edition published for Borders Books," so it looks like a re-issue of the Oxford volume, only in a slightly larger format.

Well, it looks like I just bought two copies of the same atlas. Hopefully my little review will keep you from doing the same! Anyway, whichever atlas or version you decide to get, happy atlas buying and reading!

The Oxford Atlas of World History was purchased for a High School library collection, but would serve as a wonderful historical reference for any personal collection. The maps are clear and the text is lucid. Not only does the Atlas provide the requisite information on ancient civilizations, it also provides data on changing populations, health trends, particulars on the status of women, etc. The Timechart is very helpful, delineating, as it does, what was happening when on different continents and in the areas of science/technology and arts/humanities. An up-to-date book such as this which provides an overview of history in a pictorial format, at an affordable price, is a valuable resource for both library and personal collections. It allows the reader to follow historical trends, understand boundary disputes, track the course of wars and revolutions and follow along on voyages of discovery. Charts and illustrations support the text. Portraits or photographs of important individuals, places and works of art or architecture help the reader visualize people and places. I highly recommend this Atlas.

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 last 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 cheap, 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.

I've bought this atlas after reviewing all the options available on Amazon. This one was apparently the best one in terms of map quality and information available within; I have not seen any other atlas referenced by other reviewers so I will not make comparisons here.
I give it only 3 stars because I think an atlas should have LARGE, DETAILED maps in detriment of text (which is available in other types of publications). This is not the case here, where maps are small, and do not cover important aspects or interesting facts (e.g. battlefields); text however is more than adequate, and steals actually space from maps.
It is excellent for all the people who need an introduction in history, but for those who are looking for in depth maps and cartographic details, forget it - look somewhere else, though I'm not sure (at least from other readers' point of view) you can find something better.
Next time I'll try (and recommend this to you too) to browse the book in store before buying.

The Oxford Atlas is the best of all competitors. It is full-size, high quality ink and paper, 368 pages and covers most areas of history from the caveman to the present time. I am not speaking of the concise edition but of the full-size edition. The ISBN number is #0195215672.

This book covers about 2,000,000 years of history from the origins of humanity to the year 2000. The Atlas is the result of over three years' work by internationally renowned cartographers, an expert editorial team and specialist academic consultants.

A great book at a fair price.

It is also my favourite among all history atlases. It is the most comprehensive and all-around user-friendly. The gazeteer is a great addition and is probably worth the extra dollars for this version. It also happens to be very international, and while many claim to be international they seem to me to be eurocentric. Each area of the world has a parallel writeup in each section of the book, though obviously somewhat more is written about areas with more written history.

Some honest opinion coming from someone who dives really deep into history- I find, despite the length, it really only glosses over each part of history. Not much depth. The writing style may not grasp your attention and is vague in feel, contributing to me not feeling a lot of depth. The maps are great. However I must say the inclusion of some seems questionable, though they can be interesting all the same.

In terms of build quality, the pages and binding are great. The coverguard is very prone to tattering/bending etc. and the cover will suck in ANY moisture (I mean it this book will take the slightest water droplet or grease from anything and it will stay in the cover). Which isn't a problem for most as most use the coverguard.

When you set it to its paces with the other books, though, it is more comprehensive, well-balanced, alluring, and is a must-have if you don't already own a 300+ page world history atlas.

For a remarkable overview of the history of the world so far - it is difficult to imagine this book being bettered. It is endlessly fascinating, and covers every part of the world and all major cultures. To have such an insight into the inter-relationship of nations and cultures and their development is rare.

Well written (if a little 'dry'), and with generally good maps (some scales on the maps would have been useful) - enjoy reading carefully just a couple of pages each day (no more) - and it will delight you for months to come.

I was guided by other reviews on this book and they were very helpful. One reviewer said that he had researched and found this book to have more and better maps. It is just an excellent book, beautifully done with a wide range of subjects organized in a particularly meaningful way. We are very happy with it and it will be a treasured resource for many years to come.

There's just no real depth here. A good overview of major periods of history, but very low level. Not much detail.

THIS BOOK IS VERY FUN TO READ AND THE PICTURE IS EXCELLENT! RECOMMENDED FOR STUDENT!! AGAIN VERY ENJOYABLE!!!