Customer Reviews

A Historical Atlas of Iran (Historical Atlases of South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East)

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

 

 

This is one of the series of historical atlases that the Rosen Publishing Group has issued for the Muslim countries from Saudi Arabia to Pakistan. Written at the high school level, these atlases provide a good overview of each country, concentrating as much its history as on maps.

The only drawback that I have seen in these atlases so far is that they could do a better job explaining the geography of each country. For example, the Historical Atlas of Iran states that "Iran's most dominating features are its two mountain ranges, the Elburz and the Zagros, and its two deserts, the Dasht-i Kavir and the Dasht-i Lut" but I can't find where these are labeled on any map in the book. There is a brief discussion about the geography of Iran in the introduction, but in order to really understand the history of the country I think we need to know more: where are the fertile areas, where are the concentrations of population, etc.

The book covers approximately 3,500 years of history, ending around 2002. There is a chapter on each major period in Iranian history with accompanying maps, illustrations, and text boxes on interesting and related topics. This text is clear and balanced and written at about the high school level.

Standard American high school history does cover ancient Iran (at least it did when I was in high school) but virtually ignores it after the Arab conquest. The books in this series do a good job of covering the contry's entire history, and are especially valuable in explaining the country's modern history -- in the case of Iran, around 1800 forward. Whereas chapters on ancient Iranian history may cover thousands of years, one of the chapters on modern history goes into detail on Iran from around 1950 until the Iranian revolution, and the final chapter is on the Iranian republic from about 1975 until 2002. The final chapter covers such events as the hostage crisis, the Iran-Iraq war, the Iran-Contra affair, and the first Persian Gulf War. It ends with President George W. Bush's including Iran in the "axis of evil" and increasing tensions between Iran and the United States.

Suggestions for further reading are included in the back of the book, as are related website. The publishing company, perhaps realizing how fast events are changing in this region, also has Iran related links on its own website.

This would be a good book for any student who is interested in learning about Iran, and especially in understanding the development of modern Iran and America's relationship to it.

This is a good book for children or beginner students of geography and history. It gives you basic information about the subject. Overall it is a good buy.