Customer Reviews

The West Point Atlas of American Wars: Vol. 1, 1689-1900

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This Atlas is indispensable for the study of American militiary history. Written as a two volume text for the cadets of the Us Military Academy at West Point in the late 1950s, it has never gone out of date, and was prepared by some of the best scholars in uniform at the time, including Col John Elting.

Having used the Atlas at the Academy as a cadet, I can vouch for both its accuracy, the quality of the maps, and its relevance in the study of American military operations. The maps are superb, and the text clear and concise. Simple, straightforward, and to the point, it maps out in much clarity the early days of American military operations while still a colony, the Revolution, War of 1812, the Mexican War, Civil War, and the Spanish American War.

I have used these volumes for over thirty years and the reference is invaluable and a great help in understanding the sweep of the campaigns of the Civil War, as well as the intricacies of the operations of the Mexican and Revolutionary Wars. This Atlas definitely belongs in the collection of every student of this fascinating subject.

This book is as good as it gets for pictorial guides on War. However, it's not on West Point (for that, I loved Norman Thomas Remick's book, "West Point"). But, if you're searching for a study guide or reference book, stop here. Your search is ended. Vincent Esposito of the USMA Dept. of Military Art and Engineering did a terrific job!

The most comprehensive and simple to understand set of military maps I have ever seen. I bought this book I to serve as aids while reading other works of military history, but I find myself reading it by itself. In addition to the superb and user-friendly maps, this book contains excellent narratives, which are short and concise. If you've shied away from military history because the troop manuevers were hard to understand or picture, these two volumes will clear up any confusion. The best I've found.

This book belongs on the reference shelf of anyone who is even remotely interested in military history. Most of the atlas is devoted to the American Civil War, but there is exhaustive coverage of the American Revolution and other US domestic and foreign excursions. The clearly drawn and excellently reproduced maps allow the reader to easily examine terrain features and to track troop movements - in some cases almost hour-by-hour. Ample commentary is also included beside each map which helps to put the events shown in historical perspective. It's a real pleasure to see this old friend in print again. In short, get this one if you don't have it already - it's well worth the money.

I simply cannot think of a better book to keep at hand when studying the Civil War. Books that treat individual battles often are deficient in maps and seldom can give the sweep of a campaign. This book allows you to quickly review an entire battle and the campaign that preceeded, and followed, it in a clear and easily digested format. It then becomes much easier to understand the descriptions in those other books.

By the way, Vol. 2 is out and covers World War I and is just as good. However the large size of the battles limits coverage somewhat.

this book is the best compilation of maps relating to the 19th cent US military engagements--in terms of erudition, exhaustive thouroughness in handling specific battles, excellent cartography, and clarity

so why only 4 stars? I fully expected an emphasis on the civil war, but not such an overwhelming proportion--this book, exhaustive as it is, could be longer. I purchased this book having first picked up the Esposito/Elting Napoleonic Wars (Greenhill Press?) which is flawless and totally indispensable in my opinion if you really want to understand Napoleon's campaign's. I then bought the Vol II of this pair (1900-1918) featuring WW1 exclusively and better than anywhere else I have seen--but totally lacking in coverage of the occupation of the Phillipines which was marked by years of brutal guerrilla suppression, or the american punitive raid into Mexico to hunt down Pancho Villa--both intriguing episodes in us military history.

The first volume commits even more grievous omissions--not a single map of the Barbary pirates conflict, the Texas revolution, the Creek and Seminole wars waged by A. Jackson, the military occupation of the ex-Confederate states during Reconstruction, or any of the Indian wars waged after the civil war.

90% of the book is devoted, perhaps rightly so, to the civil war, but here too there are some major omissions--what about the Kansas, Missouri, New Mexican, Texas, Oklahoma engagements?, or Admiral Farrugut's naval actions?, Confederate naval exploits? I don't remember seeing the monitor and the merrimac even mentioned. Looking through this book you might forget the US had a navy--although since these maps were prepared for instructional use at west point (army) this is forgivable. What isn't forgivable is the fact that Little Big Horn isn't in here, nor is Tippecanoe or the battle of Horseshoe Bend--which broke the Creek confederacy.

As much as I can fault this book for these lapses, it can not be all things to all people. Although I was hoping for any and all maps of the more obscure wars, 1812, Mex-Am, Span-Am--this is still the only book I know of with any at all (and the ones in here are magnificent in quality.) They are tantalizingly scant however.

I can't find any fault with the authorship or draftsmanship, but instead with some of the editing and perhaps the publishing house itself. The Napoleonic Wars featured an extremely helpful index at the end with biographical and professional information on the generals opposing Napoleon and his Marshalate: there is nothing of the kind here. There is no real segue between topics--one page is Sherman's march to the sea, the next a series of maps of Span Imperial forces in Cuba 1898--there isn't any contextual synopsis of the political and diplomatic environments any of these wars took place in. It is also a shame this crucial book has been allowed to go out of print.

Still the Esposito/Elting maps are the best I have seen and there is no other collection of military maps covering 19th century american warfare to the extant of detail this does. This is an incomparable reference for the seriously interested, and has provided me with a much better grasp of the conflicts.

The West Point Atlas of Amercian is truly an amazing set of books. When reading history, especially military history, it is impossible to grasp the movement without maps, and this 2-Volume set is the best. Also get the one by the same authors of the Napoleonic Wars, fantastic. Gives one a sense of military organization, tactics, logistics, etc. Required companions for those studying all kinds of history.

This is the Gold Standard for Military Atlases. The Maps are clear and well
drawn, with good use of color. The accompanying text is clear and does not take sides or second guess. It lets the reader see and understand the progress of both battles and campaigns. The overall quality of the Atlas is outstanding, this deserves more than five stars.

Map draftsmanship is outstanding. The time sequences are helpful in understanding battle developments. I use the civil war maps to chart movements of my ancestors units and this work has proved invaluble. Coupled with regimental histories, contemporary photographs, and official records, the atlas helps provide the detail in piecing together events that affected the lives of many americans.

I felt disappointed at the scarity of material on the Indian Wars, exploration, expeditions and frontier security which played a significant role in developing the officer corps and unit traditions.

Concise maps and clear descriptions of Revolutionary War battles and movements help sort out complicated troop movements and the underlying geography of both battlefield and region.

Overall, I recommend this work to the amateur historian and serious student of american military history. It belongs in my library.

The atlas has good maps for much, but not all, of its intended purpose. But the REAL drawback is the text. Many mistakes penned by John Elting---especially serious ones concerning various Civil War aspects---plague the text.

In the end, it is an OK book for reference, but Elting's mistakes are too numerous to qualify it as The Bible.