The Illustrated Atlas of Jewish Civilization: 4,000 Years of Jewish History [Hardcover]

Martin Gilbert (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1990

Behold the beauty, majesty, and accuracy of revolutionary new world atlases published by Macmillan and produced from the $20 million Bertelsmann/RV Verlag world digital cartographic database. Peerless in design, quality, and practicality, these new atlases are published in print and CD-ROM formats and feature unique, distinctive benefits:
-- Special coloration shows what the Earth really looks like from space
-- Uniform scale across all continents provides true one-to-one comparisons
-- Transportation routes and POIs are highlighted so map can be used for travel as well as home and office reference
-- Up-to-date research and clean, modern type ensure readers are getting the most current and clear information

And these are just the opening titles in the Macmillan Atlas Geographic Reference category. Look for innovative new titles in Historic Reference such as The Atlas of the Civil War and Popular Reference such as The Atlas of War & Peace: Bosnia Herzegovina.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This visual overview of Jewish history is a successful blend of beautiful cartography, arresting illustrations, and informative text covering the entire range of the Jewish historical experience from patriarchal times to the present. The copious, minutely detailed maps were researched by expert British historian Gilbert. The biblical period, the diaspora, contemporary Israel, and modern Jewry are amply covered. Artistic and cultural developments are treated as well as political and social events. This beautiful volume supersedes Gilbert's earlier work Jewish History Atlas (Macmillan, 1976. rev. ed.), which only takes readers up to the Israeli-Egyptian war of 1973. It's also much broader in scope than Evyatar Friesel's excellent Atlas of Modern Jewish History ( LJ 1/91), which only covers the 17th century to the present. Recommended for most collections.
- Robert A. Silver, Shaker Heights P.L., Ohio
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Macmillan Pub Co (November 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0025434152
• ISBN-13: 978-0025434158
• Product Dimensions: 11.7 x 9.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,417,675 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #91 in Books > Education & Reference > Atlases & Maps > Historical

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book by Gilbert, excellent maps, December 17, 1998

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Illustrated Atlas of Jewish Civilization: 4,000 Years of Jewish History (Hardcover)

This book is similar to The Atlas of Jewish History; Martin Gilbert. I love maps. This is the first time I see antient maps in one place. This book adds colour and text to the original Atlas. I would recommend this one for non-historians (I gave one to my 12-year old son), the Atlas is for a more serious reader.

In any case, both atlases are very informative and pleasure to have.

4.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive history with excellent maps, June 15, 2010

By 

Jon in Texas (Dallas) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Illustrated Atlas of Jewish Civilization: 4,000 Years of Jewish History (Hardcover)

This is a great overview of the history of the Jewish people with excellent maps. It leaves out a lot about the history of the conflict and the root causes of Arab rejectionism and the Arab narrative that rewrites history. It also does not deal with America's efforts to re-establish the Jewish state. (That is covered in Power, Faith, and Fantasy, by Michael Oren) Of course, events after 1969 are not included as that is the year the book was published.

2 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars great illustrations but an unneccessary bias, May 29, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The Illustrated Atlas of Jewish Civilization: 4,000 Years of Jewish History (Hardcover)

I bought the book to learn how Jewish culture began and understand the past of Palestine (or now called Israel), but I was greatly disappointed to read biased information such as "There is hardly another people on earth who can trace a continuous history that covers 4000 years. It can be argued that Chinese civilization is just as old, but the Chinese have always been geographically remote."

What the hell? Did the author forget that right next to the region he wrote about was Persian Empire which has a 5000 year history? And the Chinese have always been geographically remote? Compared to whom??? And by the way, they've been around quite a bit longer than 4000 years.

The author also tries to sneak in that Egypt was founded by Jewish ancestors...even though there is no other righting of this in history.

Maybe the author should have just stuck to his great illustrations instead of trying to beef up history with an agenda. I was looking forward to learning from the book but I couldn't trust anything else in it after reading those misrepresentations.