World Atlas of the Past

Rating:
Summary: Great Historical Reference
Review: The "Atlas of Past Times" found a permanent place on my coffee table. This book is absolutely loaded with illustrative maps, photos, and text. John Haywood has done to the pictorial record of world history what Kenneth C. Davis did for American history in his "Don't Know Much About History."

Time after time over the years I've heard or read about a particular civilization, war, political upheaval, or religious movement, but was unclear as to the specific timeframe and geographic scope. It's one thing to read about boundaries in text, but Haywood lays it all out in numerous maps. Each map is color-coded and loaded with useful information. The legends are clear and concise. A perfect example of how I found the book useful was in my following the war in Iraq. I didn't want to read six textbooks to gain a better understanding of the region's history. Haywood's book provides a fantastic visual overview: Mesopotamia, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Jews, the Arabs, the advance and subdivisions of Islam, the Kurds, the Turks, etc. The area has a long and convoluted history, which the maps really help place within grasp of the common man.

The accompanying text is only a cursory--but well written--examination of chronological world history, which is fine; it is titled and pitched as an "Atlas," and therein lies its strength and attraction. I will refer to this book again and again. --Christopher Bonn Jonnes, author of BIG ICE