Cultural Atlas of Africa, Revised Edition [Hardcover]

Jocelyn Murray (Author), Jocelyn Murray (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1998 | Series: Cultural Atlas of

A continent constantly redefining itself, Africa is as diverse as it is majestic. The Cultural Atlas of Africa vividly depicts the rich culture, history, and geography of this vast land through a brilliant melding of text and lavish images. Up-to-date information and colorful new maps and photographs allow the myriad cultures of this continent come alive.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The African continent is huge and varied, so much so that to compress its history and ethnography into a single volume seems an impossibly daunting task. Recognizing this, African historian Jocelyn Murray and 37 specialist contributors nonetheless do a fine job in this richly illustrated atlas of outlining the sweep of hundreds of thousands of years of human activity on the continent. Their narrative incorporates recent scholarship on the emergence of humankind in eastern Africa, an evolutionary tale that can now be traced to 4.5 million years before the present; the history of the great states of prehistory, among them the Asante, Benin, Great Zimbabwe, and Xhosa empires; and the complex pattern of cultural development across the continent. Along the way Murray and company look at such matters as religion, traditional healing, arts and crafts, music, dance, vernacular architecture, and politics. They also consider matters that are of pressing importance to Africa's future, among them resource use and conservation, environmental preservation, economic development, and urbanization. The book includes a nation-by-nation geographical almanac and gazetteer that, while certain to require updating soon, stand as highly useful references for students. The well- annotated maps are especially valuable. --Gregory McNamee

From the Publisher

Praise for the previous edition:

"Excellent....A well-balanced combination of text, captioned color photographs and maps." --Booklist

"An unusually beautiful book. The stunning photography and excellent clear cartography are models of their kind." --Times Literary Supplement

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Checkmark Books; Rev Sub edition (September 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0816038139
• ISBN-13: 978-0816038138
• Product Dimensions: 12 x 9.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,806,977 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cultural Atlas of Africa, July 23, 2000

By 

Yuki Uchida - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cultural Atlas of Africa, Revised Edition (Hardcover)

This book is well written and explaining about whole African continent from emergence of man in Africa, its language family, religion to art with lots of pictures. It gives you a good idea what is like as a whole. Information on each country, however, written in the latter half, is a little too brief. It only explains history and general information such as population and capital, etc. If it could provide us more information on cultural differences in each country in order to let us know how they live, for example, their diet, housing conditions, education systems, fashions, festivals, it would be much more informational and vivid. This is a good atlas to provide an overall picture of the continent Africa.

4.0 out of 5 stars Helpful and basic, February 7, 2007

By 

Ruth Powell (Nashville) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Africa (Cultural Atlas for Young People) (Hardcover)

I found this book very helpful, if a little lack-luster, in teaching a unit on Africa to my 6th grader. It has good drawings and photographs, and a nice section on African history. Of course, it is too small a book to cover anything very deeply, but it was an excellent first step for a broad overview.