Concise Atlas of World History [Hardcover]

Patrick O'Brien (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 019521921X | ISBN-13: 978-0195219210 | Publication Date: November 7, 2002 | Edition: Concise

Synthesizing exceptional cartography and impeccable scholarship, the Atlas of World History traces 12,000 years of history with 450 full-color maps and over 200,000 words of text. Its outstanding features include:
* More than 200 illustrations and tables
* Longer essays on worldwide trends, political developments, and military conflicts, highlighting the most significant socioeconomic, cultural, and religious themes for five pivotal historical periods
* Devotion to the rich past of Africa, Asia, and the Americas
* Cross-references and an 8,000-entry index with alternative name forms permitting movement through regions and time periods with the utmost of ease
The Atlas of World History is sure to appeal to a wide audience of history and geography buffs and scholars, as well as students.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This useful resource is also dangerously absorbing, allowing readers to pore over charts, maps and short articles on such subjects as the golden age of Athens, the 16th-century expansion of the Mughal Empire through India, the foreign policy of Mao Zedong and the break-up of the Soviet Union. This overview of human history, with 450 maps and 160 illustrations, begins with the emergence of Homo sapiens and culminates with the post-WWII era, moving among various regions of the globe in chronological order. It's divided into sections on ancient, medieval, early modern, Enlightenment and 20th century history, with easy-to-read two-page entries covering such subjects as "Barbarian Invasions of the Roman Empire, 100-500" and "The Development of Australia and New Zealand Since 1790." The section on postwar life includes charts showing migration patterns, female enfranchisement, distribution of wealth across the globe and changes in the environment. O'Brien, a professor at the London School of Economics, has done a fine job editing this concise edition, an excellent gift book for students of history.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 Up-This well-designed atlas is divided into five parts: "The Ancient World," "The Medieval World," "The Early Modern World," "The Age of Revolutions," and "The Twentieth Century." More than 450 color maps illustrate major themes and events of history; some photographs are included. Within the separate sections, an effort has also been made to look at religion, economic welfare, trade, technology, health, and human rights. The extensive index is cross-referenced, and the four-page bibliography is organized by topic, then continent. This concise edition is exactly the same as the original publication (Oxford, 1999), minus the time charts and the encyclopedic entries for 600 significant events, people, and places. The index was not modified to reflect all these omissions. To accommodate this edition's smaller size, the font has been significantly reduced, making it difficult to read. Stick with the original.
Peg Glisson, Mendon Center Elementary School, Pittsford, NY
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 312 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; Concise edition (November 7, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 019521921X
• ISBN-13: 978-0195219210
• Product Dimensions: 11.5 x 8.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #32,508 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #2 in Books > Education & Reference > Atlases & Maps > Historical
  • #31 in Books > Education & Reference > Atlases & Maps > Atlases

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Superb world history atlas but..., February 22, 2003

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Concise Atlas of World History (Hardcover)

This review pertains to the 312-page Concise Edition of the Oxford Atlas of World History with the ISBN 019521921X. The larger original edition has 352 pages and the ISBN 0195215672.

The book is a variation of one of the best (and perhaps *the* best) "atlas of world history" tomes. However, this scaled-down version's text is just not as easy on the eyes as that of the full-size book. The map and text content are the same for both books so the concise version is certainly a real value at about half the price. The Concise Edition does omit the glossary but I do not consider that an essential feature of the original book. The larger original version came out in 1999 (and was reprinted in 2002). The Concise Edition is merely a reprint of the 1999 book and I can find no updated data. An advantage of the Concise Edition (besides the lower price) is its physical handiness; the original is quite close in size to the big Hammond Atlas of World History. Nevertheless, I like to casually browse through atlases so the increased eye-friendliness of the larger type and map detailing in the big version is well-worth its added expense and clumsiness for my purposes.

The Concise Edition is indeed legible and would be OK for just occasional reference but not protracted reads, in my opinion. It is really a 5-star book but I rate it at 4 stars because of this truncated size. I am returning my Concise Edition and keeping its big brother. Both editions are still available from Amazon at the time of this writing.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The story of humanity from a cartographic perspective, March 9, 2003

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Concise Atlas of World History (Hardcover)

The affordable price tag of this set of maps paired with its applications to both home and school library patrons will earn it a place on many a home bookshelf as well as libraries: Atlas Of World History, Concise Edition is the result of over three years of intensive effort by a team of academics and editors, and presents the story of humanity from a physical, cartographic perspective. Five parts correspond with the five eras studied by world historians today, making for a particularly accessible set of maps.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating, July 9, 2010

By 

Andrew Collins (Litchfield County, Connecticut) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Concise Atlas of World History (Hardcover)

As a person with a casual interest in history, I was hoping that a book summarizing everything would exist. This is that book. The development and changes of borders in world history is something that interests me and Atlas of World History did not disappoint. Through the pages are the stories of the rise and fall of great empires. There are more maps than I could have ever wanted. The text itself is interesting, albeit in the expected textbook format. The book is almost always non-biased towards historical events. There are also summaries of larger scale wars such as the World Wars, the American Civil War, and so on. I imagine that one could spend a lot of time just thumbing through the pages looking at the maps which are all beautifully and clearly illustrated.

As far as I can tell, there are very few errors in the book. Some of this comes from the fact that borders were sometimes in a constant state of flux (see Byzantine Empire). Also important to note is that the goal of this book is summarizing. For example, the Roman Empire gets only two pages.

In conclusion, if you like history and want a visualization of the borders and people's movement throughout the times but you are not looking for something in-depth, buy this book.