Customer Reviews

The Penguin Atlas of North American History to 1870 (Hist Atlas)

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This entire series is superb and is absolutely essential for any lover of historical atlases. I have been an owner of virtually all of them for at ten years and I can honestly say that they are most read books of all that I own.

The reason is their unique portability and scope. Most historical atlas are huge, heavy and expensive. They are difficult to read unless you are sitting at a table and very difficult to carry. This limits their utility (even though I still love them). Most history books have lots of dense detail about one nation or one period. Virtually none cover the broad sweep of an entire region over centuries.

This atlas covers what is now the United States, Canada, Mexico, and bits of Central America and the Caribbean. The focus of the text is very heavily on the USA, although Spanish America gets quite a bit of coverage. It starts in 20,000BC and finishes in 1870. The interval between maps gradually shrinks as we get into the modern era, so relatively little is pre-Columbian. In all, it has over 50 maps.

Like all Penguin Historical Atlases, it is small, light, reasonably priced and incredibly broad in scope. These atlases offer a unique perspective on history than is otherwise impossible to achieve. Their size and weight make them perfect for travelling. Whenever I go on a trip, I take the most relevant ones with me. That way I can brush up on my history of the region.

The format is extremely useful. Each two-page layout represents a specific time period. On the right is a historical map. On the left is a very brief overview of the important events that happened since the previous map. Each event usually consists of one paragraph or at most a few paragraphs, just enough to peak the interest. Most of the maps document boundaries and note a few key cities or battlegrounds. Occasionally, the maps focus on population, religion or economics.

What is most fun for me is to trace the history or one nation, province or sub-region through the entire atlas. In just a few minutes I can learn as much as spending days reading an entire book. You can also see how individual nations interact with each other, a subject often left out of typical history books.

I was taken aback that nobody - historian, crank or polemicist - has posted a review of this work before. Nothing like it has ever been published, and perhaps the lack of interest reflects the shallowness of modern historical studies in our campuses.
The strengths of this book - its crystaline maps, its acerbic prose, its ability to illustrate the realities of America's rise to power through clear, uncluttered images - are a reminder that we were once part of the international community.
There are faults too: the ending of the book with the Federal victory in the Civil War is dramatic but does not do justice to the subsequent decades when America established itself as the strongest, but shortest-lived, world "super-power".
But this is a minor cavil. McEvedy's understanding of the reasons for The Northern Victory, his generous tribute to Robert E. Lee and his ability to see both the wood and the trees make this essential reading, especially for that half of my fellow citizens that cannot place Iraq or India on a map.

This atlas follows a unique format, focusing on the history of North America as a whole, from prehistory to the US Civil War. It follows the same format as other Atlases by the author, C. McEvedy, which cover other regions of the world.
I enjoyed following the 'snapshots' of North America throughout history. Each snapshot includes a map of North America at a given year with a narrative discussing the changes shown in the maps. Most of the coverage is of more recent history after the European discovery of America, and is very general in scope. It focuses on population movements, exploration, political developments, and war.
Some drawbacks include an excessive focus on the USA/European perspective and the early end date of 1870. Despite this, it was a very enjoyable and interesting read.