Books

The Penguin Atlas of African History
The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Rome (Penguin Historical Atlases)
The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Egypt (Penguin Reference)
New Penguin Dictionary of Modern History 1789-1945 (Penguin Reference Books)
Con Men and Cutpurses: Scenes from the Hogarthian Underworld
Elizabeth I: A Personal History of the Virgin Queen
DNA and Family History: How Genetic Testing Can Advance Your Genealogical Research
The Fall of Public Man
Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East
Apollo: The Epic Journey to the Moon (A Tehabi Book)
Modern Spain, 1875-1980
A History of the Vikings
Terrorism: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introduction S.)
Bloody Shambles: Air War for Burma: The Allied Air Forces Fight Back in South-East Asia 1942-1945 v. 3
Setting the East Ablaze: On Secret Service in Bolshevik Asia
Trace Your Family Tree Kit: Advice and Information for Taking Your First Steps in Genealogy
Arabs in History
The English Settlements (Oxford History of England)
The Rise of Rome: Bks.I-V (Oxford World's Classics)
Gallipoli (Wordsworth Military Library)
Labour in Power, 1945-51 (Oxford Paperbacks)
A Polite and Commercial People: England, 1727-83 (New Oxford History of England)
The Tudors: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introduction S.)
World Music: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introduction S.)
The Oxford Illustrated History of Prehistoric Europe

The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Egypt (Hist Atlas)

Average customer rating:

Not the most informative book on Egyptian history, but then again it IS an ATLAS!
Great aid to study of Ancient Egypt
Informative but dull
Interesting idea
A Great Book For Beginners

The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Egypt (Hist Atlas)
Bill Manley
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Egypt | Ancient | History | Subjects | Books

Africa | Ancient | History | Subjects | Books

Egypt | Middle East | History | Subjects | Books

Atlases | Atlases & Maps | Reference | Subjects | Books

Historical | Atlases & Maps | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Reference | Subjects | Books

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Similar Items:

The Search For Ancient Egypt
The Penguin Historical Atlas of Greece (Hist Atlas)
The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Rome (Hist Atlas)
The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt
Egypt (Eyewitness Travel Guides)

ASIN: 0140513310

Customer Reviews:

Not the most informative book on Egyptian history, but then again it IS an ATLAS!.......2005-11-30

Many people are writing that this book did not satisfy their desire for facts and more in-depth explanations of Egyptian history, and that the book's text is not informative. This book is not meant for that purpose, and is really and truly an atlas. The maps are what matter.
In that reguard it serves its purpose and more. The maps are extremely easy to follow, clearly labelled and idenitified, colorful, and most of all- informative. One can tell so much about a period of history by analyzing a map, particularly several which have trade routes, battle sites, important roads and cultural sites CLEARLY marked. Who could ask for anything more! This atlas is wonderful, and is, I repeat, an atlas.
Anyways? What kind of person sits down and reads an atlas? I mean, seriously, its just a reference book, its not a novel. Its not supposed to tell wonderful stories and dazzle you with vibrant facts, its just maps, and anything else, is extra.

Great aid to study of Ancient Egypt.......2005-10-03

Maps showing the changing boundaries of countries through a period of history are great visual for students of ancient history.

Informative but dull.......2003-09-07

It is a good read for people with recent encountering with Egypt. But I was little appalled because information seemed dull. Book will give you facts and names but there isn't much more. Colorful images will attract your attention but I really believe those images have interesting legend and tales by their own.

Interesting idea.......2002-09-19

This book provides a great deal of information on 3000 years of Egyptian history in an unusual format. The book consists of many single-page essays on a particular topic or period, with the essay on the left side of the page, and the corresponding map on the other side of the page, which illustrates what's going on in the text. It's sort of an interesting way to write a history book of ancient Egypt, and I thought it worked out pretty well. Although not your typical history, it's still an interesting and useful book, especially for getting a quick overview of a particular subject or topic.

A Great Book For Beginners.......2000-10-13

This book is very easy to read in both text, and maps are excellent and easy to read. This is an excellent item to use for reference. However, to compress so much History into one volume does neither the atlas or Egyptian History justice. However, as a reference item, this is an excellent item.

The Penguin Atlas of African History: Revised Edition

Average customer rating:

An excellent Atlas & outline of African History
A biased point of view
A Good But Incomplete History

The Penguin Atlas of African History: Revised Edition
Colin McEvedy
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Africa | History | Subjects | Books

Central Africa | Africa | History | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

Historical | Atlases & Maps | Reference | Subjects | Books

Look Inside History Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Reference Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

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Similar Items:

The New Penguin Atlas of Recent History: Europe Since 1815
The Penguin Atlas of Modern History : to 1815 (Hist Atlas) (Hist Atlas)
The New Penguin Atlas of Ancient History: Revised Edition
The New Penguin Atlas of Medieval History: Revised Edition (Hist Atlas)
Africans: The History of a Continent (African Studies)

ASIN: 0140513213

Customer Reviews:

An excellent Atlas & outline of African History.......2004-08-30

The maps in this book provide an excellent visual history for anyone who has read a plethora of books involving different peoples and locations in Africa. Now one can compare the locations (and times) at which these different events occur!

While acknowledging that the African slave trade (both intra-African & Trans-Saharan) existed long before the Europeans arrived on the scene and accepting the historical accuracy of Berbers and Moriscos such as Ibn Battuta and Leo Africanus as well as of Westerners like Mungo Park and Dr. Livingstone, McEvedy attempts to maintain a neutral position throughout.

The work is not without flaw, for McEvedy could have left out pages 8 - 19 and actually improved the work. More importantly, he fails to give any sources or references. This limits the usefulness of the book's text and indicates that this is just an outline for use with more scholarly texts.

Still, the book provides a decent consideration of the early ethnic groups of Africa from the Afro-Asiatics (Hamito-Semitic), Niger-Congolese ("Negro") and Nilo-Saharans to the Pygmies & San. It also gives a clear picture of the expansion of the Nilo-Saharans toward the west and of the Niger-Congolese (especially the Bantu peoples) to the south and east and the growth and expansion of Egypt, Carthage, the Roman Empire, the Vandals, Byzantine Empire and the Arab Caliphate.

We also get a clear picture of the break-up of the old Caliphate and the establishment of independent and virtually independent kingdsoms of Arabs (and Moors in Morocco & Spain)and their expansion (as well as that of Islam to the south with the development of the Trans-Saharan trade routes around 900 A.D.). The rise of the Ottoman control of eastern North Africa, the beginnings of the relatively small Portuguese (and Afro-Portuguese) settlements at the Angolan and Mozambique coastsand the beginnings of Cape Colony. The French slowly begin to establish colonies in Algiers and Senegal, the expansion of the Boers and the beginnings of the "scramble" (see Packenham's THE SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA) which resulted in almost all of Africa being made into colonies of the different European empires.

Of special interest are the maps showing the routes taken by the various Muslim and Western explorers and the growth of different parts of the population such that the Afro-Asiatics went from being the majority of peoples in Africa to the Niger-Congolese (along with the Nilo-Saharans) making up the vast majority of the African population. McEvedy does an excellent job of explaining why, despite the very large number of slaves which were taken from sub-Saharan Africa, the local populations managed to actually increase in size (the number of people sold, captured or kidnapped into slavery was less than 1/2 the expected rate of increase and most were males thus only making minor reductions in the number of local women able to reproduce).

Again, an excellent introduction to African history and reference, but it should not be - and was not intended to be - a scholoarly work. Indeed, the author even eschews the term "reference" in support of the idea that it is just an outline.

A biased point of view.......2004-08-16

I woul take one point to show the type of historical book we are dealing with: The Atlantic salve trade.
Page 90, it says:
"That this enforced exodus (from Africa to America) had no effect at all on Africa may seem surprising because the slave trade at its peak in the 1780s was removing something near 100.000 people a year. However, this is less than half the likely rate of increase for a population of the size existing in Black Africa......Moreover the atlantic traffic was not without its advantages: in particular the introduction of new staples like manioc and maize may well have produced an increase in the rate of population growth that outweighed the loss due to the slave trade".

and then in page 97 the matter is furtherly settled:

"No one in Africa was going to say thank you for this (for the end of the slave trade). Most west African states suffered a severe loss of revenue and, though the British granted some of them subsides...".

It is phantastic! Western Imperialists have not only the most powerful guns, but they also control the writting of the history. When you read this you come to believe that slave trade was organized by some NGO eager to activate de economical development of Africa. Only to demostrate the intellectual weakness of this kind of thought let us point out how here Mr. McEvedy associates the introduction of new crops with the slaves trade, as if the first thing could not have gone without the second!

Of course history is an extension of the political and ideological battleground and Mr. Mc Evedy has taken sides. If the reader has a pro Western Imperialistic mind, lets say if he likes Iraq's occupation by the western coalition, he will enjoy this book. Otherways he will feel extremely unhappy (I am unhappy).

A Good But Incomplete History.......2000-10-05

The Penguin Atlases of Ancient, Medieval and Modern History covered only the history of Europe. This offering gives a bit more balance to the series and has a better claim to be the "Penguin Atlas of Human History" since it begins with maps of the oldest known hominid fossil finds. As with the other books in the series, the maps are very well laid out and will be irresistible to history buffs like myself. The emphasis is definitely on political history, but there are a few maps of population densities and trade routes.

The text that accompanies the maps is not bad, but is definitely not up to the same standard. Some of the information is even a little dubious (especially in the discussion of human evolution). There is also a tendency to see things from a European point of view, and I would have preferred a little less on the "exploration" of the continent and a little more on cultural history.

The Penguin Atlas of African History is a reference work that should be on everyone's shelves, but it should probably be backed up with a more detailed history of the continent.

Average customer rating:

THE PENGUIN ATLAS OF AFRICAN HISTORY.
Colin McEvedy.
Manufacturer: L: 1987. 142p; maps.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000KIFPPW

Average customer rating:

THE PENGUIN ATLAS OF AFRICAN HISTORY
COLIN MCEVEDY
Manufacturer: PENGUIN
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000SIJ1AY

Atlas of African History, The Penguin : Revised Edition (Hist Atlas)

Average customer rating:

Atlas of African History, The Penguin : Revised Edition (Hist Atlas)
Colin McEvedy
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OJ4K7Q

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