Customer Reviews

The History Atlas of Asia: From the World's Oldest Civilizations to Emerging Superpower (History Atlas Series)

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

 

 

This book is not so much an atlas is it is a book of maps with historical context given in the text. The geographic scope is from Asia Minor to Japan, from the Indian subcontinent to Russia.

The vast terrain it attempts to covers makes the book, by necessity, somewhat generalist. So, rather than providing a good series of maps that might show the ebb and flow of states, it presents snapshots of major polities at their height.

I guess I had expected more concentration on East Asia. And I had hoped for things like a series of maps showing the flux in borders during the Warring States period in China, a set of maps showing the interaction among Thai, Khmer, Viet and Cham cultures in SE Asia etc.

Conclusion: it is somewhat generalist in nature, and does not provide the combination of timeline and map that i was hoping for. But for snapshots of major states with a breif historical context, it is a serviceable book.

Although I don't have time to write a full review, let me just point out some very elementary mistakes to be found on a Japan-related page, p. 67.
"The warrior caste, always an important feature of Japanese life, is exemplified by this fine illustration of Tomoe, a brave woman of the Genji and Heishi period of Japan, c. 900 ..."
Aside from the meaningless babble about "an important feature ...", Tomoe, as a woman, is clearly not your typical Japanese warrior, and not the person to select if there is only going to be one illustration. And she lived in the 12th century. The Genpei wars (the wars between the Genji and the Heike, or Minamoto and Taira) happened in the late 12th century, not c. 900.
The map on the same page gives the misreading Taika for the name of the Taira clan, confusing it with the name of the Taika reforms of c. 700, which are dealt with on the previous page of the atlas.
(By the way, the next time Japan features in the volume is in a section on the late 19th century.)
I imagine that these are only small symptoms of the larger editorial problems of the volume as a whole. I sincerely wish I hadn't bought it.