National Geographic Atlas of World History [Hardcover]

Noel Grove (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1997

This atlas tells the story of human developm ent from the European cave painters of the Ice Age to the co mputer revolution which has transformed business and industr y around the globe. Time lines give easy access to the chron ology of events. '

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Natl Geographic Society (November 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0792270231
• ISBN-13: 978-0792270232
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 9.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,064,842 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

152 of 152 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good but see below, September 21, 2002

By 

magellan (Santa Clara, CA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: National Geographic Atlas Of World History (Hardcover)

I've been on an ancient history kick lately, and since it's been about 20 years since I've done a lot of reading in this area, I thought I would check out what's available in the way of good historical atlases of the ancient world, or of world history in general.

This book is one of the half-dozen big atlases out there that are available. Since I've been looking in detail at all of the current ones, I'll give brief comparisons and you can go from there and decide which one might be best for you.

Atlases are great for looking up those events, both momentous and not-so-momentous, to get a quick grasp and overview of the situation without getting bogged down in some more detailed and ponderous history. All the current ones do a decent job of that, but they very in terms of readability and the number of maps included, and the degree to which they integrate the visual maps and materials with the text. Here's the scoop on all of these.

1. For my money, John Haywood's Atlas of World History is the best combination of features and price. Haywood writes very well and has a nice, deft touch with the material, unlike many atlases, whose prose often sounds somewhat dry and technical. The book was written along with a team of graphics experts skilled at combining the written word with maps and illustrations, and it shows. Although not as large as the Hammond and Dorling-Kindersley books, it's still excellent and only a fraction of their cost. Two other nice features are the color-coded timelines which accompany each two-page spread, and the many special symbols and legends on the maps, which are used to illustrate and highlight points in the text.

2. The Oxford Atlas of World History is also well written, and has lots of maps just like the Haywood volume. I found the writing style somewhat drier than Haywood's, but it's one of the most scholarly of the atlases out there, and could be used by college students given the level of presentation of the material. These two books are otherwise very close, except that the Haywood volume is less than half the price of this one.

3. The Nat'l Geographic offering has some of the most entertaining writing by Noel Grove and Daniel Boorstin I've found in any history text. Some of the tidbits are really great, such as Grove's comment that "Russia's...Peter the Great died at the age of 53 after diving into the Neva River in winter to rescue drowning sailors." And "Vikings were not just ruthless killers; they traded as often as they raided, and their wives knew rights that other medieval women could scarcely imagine."

However, the main shortcoming of this atlas is that it contains almost no maps. Most of the illustrations are arts or crafts related, for some reason. In that sense the book hardly qualifies as an atlas, and it would be more accurate to say it's a more like a well-illustrated history of the world, instead.

4. The Hammond Atlas, along with the DK, is physically the biggest, thickest, and most comprehensive of the 6 discussed here. It's also the highest priced, and more expensive than the cheapest one here by a factor of four or five. It's still a fine atlas despite the cost, and I'd still be quite happy with this one as it's certainly a beautifully done atlas.

The book has over 600 maps and illustrations, many of which show such nice details (which not all the other atlases do) as mountain ranges, and in general are beautifully colored with a variety of symbols showing movements of peoples and armies and other important historical and cultural details, similar to the Haywood volume.

The level of presentation of the material is also high, and would be appropriate up through college level, but the prose style is a little drier and more technical sounding than the DK or Haywood, for example. However, someone who is already pretty knowledgeable about history could probably still use this atlas, compared with the DK, which, although more attractive graphically, is obviously aimed at a broader audience.

5. The Dorling-Kindersley atlas is the most beautifully designed, graphically, of all the offerings out there, and they often set the maps at various angles or distort them in creative ways to fit all the different paragraphs of text and illustrations on a page, which sometimes looks a little weird. Because of this, the presentation consists of an introductory section in larger type, with other paragraphs in smaller type which are paired with the other maps and graphics on each two-page spread. In fact, there is almost a 1 to 1 correspondence between the illustrations and the text paragraphs. I found this made the atlas harder to use than the others, since the pages are almost so dense and busy with material that it's almost distracting, but there's no doubt it's the most visually appealing and graphically innovative of all the atlases out there. Their maps are really spectacular, and they use the glossiest paper, so their maps look more attractive.

The DK atlas also provides the best coverage of non-European history, doing a much better job of covering Asia, Africa, South America, and Oceania. The other atlases are more Eurocentric in their focus. Next to the DK, the Hammond atlas provides the best coverage in this regard.

6. The last atlas I wanted to discuss is the Times Atlas of World History. Although now a little dated, having come out almost 10 years ago in 1993, it still counts as one of the mostly scholarly, well-written, and well-illustrated of these works, and it's also intermediate in terms of price. I read somewhere that the more recent Hammond atlas is actually this one updated, but they don't state specifically that the Time atlas was its predecessor, so I can't verify this.

Hope my little "Consumer Reports" comparison guide helps. Good luck and happy atlas shopping, buying, and reading!

73 of 73 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars An Illustrated History, NOT an Atlas, August 6, 2001

By 

Thomas M. Martin (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: National Geographic Atlas Of World History (Hardcover)

I teach world history and own several world history atlases. Of all the world history atlases that I own, the National Geographic Atlas of World History is the most Eurocentric and least useful. Surprisingly, this is an atlas with many beautiful photographs, but relatively few maps. It reads more like a beautifully illustrated world history text for a middle school or high school student than a serious world history atlas.

If you are shopping for a world history atlas, I would recommend the DK World Atlas, Oxford (Philip's) Atlas of World History, or the paperback Hammond (Times) Concise Atlas of World History. For what it's worth, the now dated 1993 Times Atlas of World History remains the standard by which all one volume world history atlases are judged.

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Low on detail; few maps, December 11, 2001

By 

Daniel J. Jensen "gawia" (San Jose, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: National Geographic Atlas Of World History (Hardcover)

I had to get this book, as I love National Geographic feature maps. Once I acquired it, however, I was shocked to discover how few maps are provided by this book. Furthermore, I am usually disappointed by this book when looking for specific events, dates, and locations. Help me recover my dignity as a consumer and buy something else!