The Palgrave Concise Historical Atlas of the Balkans

by Dennis P. Hupchick, Harold E. Cox

The dramatic, tumultuous and often tragic human events that erupted in the Balkan Peninsula following the collapse of communism between 1989 and 1991 have captured the Western world's attention throughout the past decade. The Palgrave Concise Historical Atlas of the Balkans contains fifty two-colour, full-page maps and extensive explanatory text to explore this often complicated and war-torn history. The maps not only illustrate the area's physical geography, but also the political development and key moments in Balkans history, in a way that is immediate and easy-to-understand. Lecturers and students will find it an indispensable and affordable useful reference tool, and general readers will enjoy it for its clarity and wealth of information.

Genres: History

140 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Maayan K · Rating 3 out of 5]

Each page, consisting of a map and an accompanying narration, tells the story of a small increment in the dramatic 1500 year history of the Balkan region. The book is decently written and chronologically ordered, zooming in and out of regions in a logical way; all this makes it digestible, but the sheer level of detail and information can be too much if you're looking for a sort of overview. The problem with looking for an overview of the balkans region, is that it would be very hard to compose one. Each nation here had brief periods of political dominance and independence but most have spent the majority of their histories (after arrival in the region and language coalescence), as subjects of other nations and empires. I come away impressed that the language and cultures of so many Balkan peoples have persisted, albeit with mixing and adaptation of course.
The maps would have been more clear if they had more than two colors. A thorough book that's worth keeping around as a reference.