Customer Reviews

Historical Atlas of Central Europe (History of East Central Europe, Vol. 1, 1)

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

 

 

I've never had an historical atlas with such minute detail about ethnic classification, and religious affiliations on the maps. Nor one that showed that information for such a long span of history.
The maps are beautiful! The color distinctions for the categories are clear and easy to discern. I like to get all historical atlases, good or mediocre. Usually every atlas will have some unique characteristic that makes having it desirable.
I'd like detailed atlases like this one for every country. The author must have perused tons of documents and records to get such specific detail.
This may be the best historical atlas in print. I wish the author would do one for all of Europe, Asia and North America.

As a writer of historical fiction which takes place in Eastern Europe, I have found Robert Magocsi's atlas to be outstanding and filled with detailed information that I would have to search through many books to obtain. The book not only presents the maps of Eastern Europe from its earliest times (400 AD), to the present, but also, accompanying each map is a detailed write-up of the history, geography and governments present at the time the map indicates. Thus, you not only learn what the countries/lands were at that time, but also why divisions occurred, why certain movements sprang up, and how it all lead to how the countries are now divided. The scholarship is impressive.
This is an excellent book for anyone who is interested in the development of Eastern Europe. It is clearly stated, well defined, and should be in everyone's library.

Orysia Earhart Washington

I was fortunate to pick up this atlas at a discount store, and what a treasure trove of history it is! I have used it extensively in researching family history and for general reading. The maps are detailed, clear and well-presented. Tight capsules of historical review are usually presented on the facing pages and gives a wonderful narrative into the never-known or almost forgotten history of East Central Europe. The irony is, of course, that this area was a hotbed of clashing cultures, war, shifting alliances, etc, and very little is common knowledge! One question: this is marked Vol. 1...is there a Vol. 2? I've been looking...

This book helps make sense of the complex history of Central Europe in both words and maps, in a way that nationalist histories of individual countries often fail to do. The complex relations between the various empires, frequently changing borders and both major and minor wars make Central Europe one of the most complex areas to understand, and this book helps immensely. I read it in conjuction with Lonnie R. Johnson's "Central Europe: Enemies, Neighbors, Friends", which explores some information in more detail, but ignores other aspects that are covered by the atlas.

In addition to the usual demarcations between states, this book displays a number of demographic and cultural trends. Canal and railway development before 1914 gives a good view of what areas were developed and which were not. Adjacent maps also compare the population density in 1870 with that in 1910. Ethnolinguistic distribution ca. 1900 shows the degree to which nation states correspond to linguistic groups (e.g. Sudenten Germans). There is a separate map dedicated to the distribution of ethnic Germans ca. 1900--as well as the evolution of German settlement. Jews and Armenian populations ca. 1900 are also mapped. The map of cultural and educational institutions before 1914 also gives an idea of the degree of development in different areas. The battle lines of World War I and World War II are drawn in detail. Perhaps my favorite is population movements 1944-1948, with every group (and especially Germans) rushing frantically to the West. Only Ukrainians were seen to surge en masse to the East! Finally the whole thing is finished off with industrial development 1945-1989.

Good concept, lots of good information -- but the maps do not give a lot of detail, they are more meant to give a rough overview accompanying the text. Given the title "atlas", the maps are somewhat disappointing. But it is a very good book with interesting written information.

Excellent book for those doing genealogy and trying to understand border changes in a particular period of history. Highly recommend.

This book does what it should do. It provides easily read maps of the area between Berlin and Ismir showing the political situation in the region from the Roman era to the contemporary one. However, this is not one of those atlases that can really be read like a book. There is a lot of text, but it mostly is of the "Prussia acquired Silesia from Austria in 1742" variety. The book deals almost entirely with territorial matters, not with social ones. For example, there are maps for each country in the region showing boundary changes since World War I. However, there is nothing about the rise of authoritarianism in Central Europe in the interwar period, the installation of Communist regimes afterward or the fall of Communism in 1989-91. The author only discusses such things so far as they affect international and intranational boundaries.