The Historical Atlas of the World is made up of more than 100 colorful maps that present periods and turning points in world history. The atlas also features a how-to-use section.
I enjoy listening to history books, I get the full experience while listening except for not seeing the maps and knowing where the location of some ancient places are today. I wanted an easier solution than having to look thinks up on Google and purchased this moderately priced atlas. I'm glad I did. I actually ended up "reading it" cover to cover the first day it arrived.
So, now I know where Friesland was in 1648 (after the treaty of Westphalia, and btw, now I know where Westphalia is). The atlas is not only limited to political maps of the time period, but they have a map of language groups and list where Frisian (the closest living language to English and probably where English came from) is spoken today. They chart the movement of groups of people (Visigoths, Lombards, and so on).
The atlas is pretty complete. I have no idea why some of the comments at Amazon complain on and on about how the Byzantine Empire is not included. It is and is at the historical epochs you would want it to be at except I do wish there was a map for 650 AD, but that's only a small omission in this fun and cheap to read atlas.
Roughly chronological, regions of the world are investigated in turn. Different projections and layouts keep things interesting to read through as an overview of history. Generally dates are provided, sometimes not. So, Kingdom of Mali goes undated while it is interesting to see the empires of Central and South American comparatively presented on a single page.
McNally, R. (2009). Historical atlas of the world. Place of publication not identified: Macmillon
Citation by: Tonya Saylor
Type of reference: Atlas
Call number: Ref
Content/Scope: This atlas contains over 100 colorful maps which spans over 5000 years of world history from preliterate times to the present.
Accuracy/Authority/Bias: Rand McNally is a widely used authority for school library resources.
Arrangement/Presentation: The information is arranged according to 9 different eras of world history.
Relation to other works: There are many atlases from which to choose.
Accessibility/Diversity: The maps come in a colorful and easy to use format to meet the needs of diverse learners. There is also a how-to-use section to make using this reference easier.
This is a great little book with lots of maps from the dawn of history. It is the kind of book you can look at a thousand times and still find something new the next time you pick it up.