The Penguin Atlas of World History: Volume 1: From Prehistory to the Eve of the French Revolution (Penguin Reference Books) Paperback – May 25, 2004

This two book set is the same as the old Anchor Atlas of World History though volume 2 has been updated to bring the set more or less to the present. I fell in love with the Anchor Atlas set to the point I wore out my first set so I bought a second set. Then the publisher took the book out of print. It stayed that way until the last couple of years when Penguin took over.These atlases are perhaps the most comprehensive of any similar books on the market. One or two come close, but I think Penguin's atlas is still the best if you are looking for a brief overview. Critics say the print is too small or the content is not detailedenough. I disagree with both criticisms. I believe a historical atlas should be brief. The intent is to cover an event and depict it in maps. If in depth analysis is wanted, then find a book dedicated to the particular topic.I bring these books with me whenever I travel and want something to read. In fact, back in high school we had a group assignment of what books we would bring along if we were to be stranded on a desert island. I convinced my group these books were worthy of such a list. With them back in print I can finally discard my first set (the glue binding disintegrated leaving me with single pages. I bought this set to the cabin for casual reading up there. Now I can bring my first replacement set up there.I just can't say enough good things about these books. I did notice a flaw in a map label in volume 2 that has not been corrected since the initial publication. In a map showing the early United States they label as "Minnesota Territory" those lands which were originally the Wisconsin Territory after Michigan gained statehood. This flaw leads me to wonder about other maps whose labels I'm not as well versed it. But overall I still remain very impressed with this set. Anyone who buys this set for what it is: an introduction to the topics it presents accompanied by detailed maps, will not be disappointed.

In this Golden Age of Documentary Films there is so much detail that verifying and going deeper into the history, diplomacy, battles, and lives is often valuable.This book is a first-rate production. Summarizes all the key national stories, the interaction of empires and cultures. The maps are color-coded and detailed. Examples of areas that interest me and have been in recent documentaries are:a. the Roman Republic, and the subsequent Roman Empire, p. 92 and related;b. the Viking Age and its lasting influence on many regions of Europe (p. 130, see also National Geographic films and articles);c. China as a civilization of Two Rivers, the Yangtze and the Yellow, their competition and cooperation, the formation of dynasties and empires, their frontier wars on three sides (p. 176, 226: the Mongols, the Khmer, and the Japanese pirates; and 1600s era European ports);d. the Age of Mercantilism and its possible relevance of the nature of 21st c. Neo-Mercantilism (p. 260);e. the origins of the Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth (p. 200);f. the Baltic wars, borne out of competition over naval stores, grain, and timber, prelude to the Great Northern War (p. 248);g. The Seven Years War (1756-63), also known as the French and Indian War (a colonial era war spanning the globe; see also the documentary film "The War that Made America").

I have loved maps and history for longer than I care to admit and I was fortunate enough to have a father who shared these interests and provided a fertile and far-ranging "garden" of books for my edification and enjoyment growing up. One of my favorites was this book. The story skips ahead many years--I decided to look for this book, which had been out of print or at least unavailable for a long time. I found it here on Amazon and ordered it, along with another larger highly touted atlas from another publisher (rated #1 by another reviewer). Much to my delight and surprise, the Penguin atlas has aged quite well (to be expected given the period covered). Its strength lies in the abundance and thoroughness of the map coverage--where other atlases give one map, this one often gives three or more--and in the "extracurricular" material such as diagrams illustrating governmental organization. Incidentally, I was sorely disappointed in the other atlas, which cost far more and sported foolish and uninformative cartographic projections as well as such vast lacunae in coverage as to render it virtually worthless as a serious reference.As I see it, the heart of any atlas worth its salt must be its maps and this compact, user-friendly little volume offers such a wealth of these that it exposes other historical atlases as the patchy, inadequate waste of paper most of them are. I don't buy an atlas for text--though this atlas has excellent if necessarily skeletal narrative accompaniment--I buy it for the maps, to complement my reading. There's nothing sillier than an "atlas" that overdoes it on the text at the expense of the maps; oddly enough, Penguin also publishes some of what I consider the worst atlases available today (see their atlas of the Roman Empire for a prime example)--go figure.Really this atlas does everything right. My sole complaint is the small size, but this could just as easily be considered a plus (for portability, ease of use, etc.); if only there were a large format historical atlas to match--I'm still looking for a worthy counterpart.

I was looking for this book for ages.I finally found one 2nd hand, but is as good as new.The book contains the main historical events with a list of maps which make it very useful for the reader

Ottimo

serious history and geography students and teachers should have for personal reference/background info for clasxes.

An atlas with much more annotations than maps, which is somewhat too small to conclude all geographic details. ：）But as an atlas for someone whose knowledge of world history, especially european-centered world history, it is useful.

für bilinguale Schüler und Studenten. Mittlerweile sind beide Bände fehlerbereinigt und ideale, zuverlässige Nachschlagewerke, an die keine Internetressource heranreicht. Manchmal schmökert man einfach gerne, wenn man mit Öffis unterwegs ist und keine Musik auf die Ohren dröhnt.