The World Factbook 2004

Rating:
Summary: Essential snapshots of every nation in the world
Review: If you need quick, hard, reliable, up-to-date data on any nation in the world then this is the resource for you. You get political, historical, economic, sociological, religious, racial, military, educational, and geographic information in a concise, well-organised format. Even the maps are uncluttered and contain only the priciple cities and geographic features. You can quickly flip between entries for fast comparisons.

This publication has been updated yearly and made available to the public since 1975. The sections on internal political groups, conflicts with other states, internal conflicts, drug production and consumption, reported AIDS cases, and internal distribution of income are especially useful and usually resonably current.

The entry on the United States itself is an especially candid thumbnail on how the country views itself at any given point of time.