Colin McEvedyReseñas

Loved this one! I had a great time flipping through the maps to see changes. Nice overview of the medieval period too.

1/24/23

OBB-3

Je voulais que le film ne soit pas listé par ordre alphabétique, mais par example, par le ordre dans lequel les villes appartiennent½

This historical atlas contains many colored maps, illustrations, and descriptive narrative of the destruction of Alexander's empire to the rise and fall of the Roman empire and Chinese Han dynasty.

I’ve read several of McEvedy’s Penguin Atlases now and they’re all winners. If you’ve never seen one what you basically have is an outline map and facing text on each double page. The content of the maps changes chronologically as you read. The beauty of this is that you can see everything that’s happening on the continent at one particular time. Be ready for a few surprises as just a few hundred miles can make for wholly different cultures and stories.

Of particular interest was southern Africa. The stretch of time where nothing appears to happen is staggering. I was reminded of my thoughts on the British Isles where reading the Atlas of Ancient History. You suddenly realise how backwards and isolated the islands have been for most of their history with the delayed arrival of the Bronze and Iron

Ages, and the Renaissance of course. In southern Africa you have no metal working until the colonial period. Why doesn’t it transmit south along the east coast and then inland? This book does not provide answers. There’s no space for anything more than a summary of events and for this area, for most of the history, there’s nothing more than a vague indication of ethnic groups’ territories. There is no real ‘history’ because there was no way to write it down. This book is as old as me though, and perhaps archaeology has since shed more light.

A good format and a good introduction to the subject.

as an overview of borders changing over time, it's terrific. and it goes wide, documenting Asian migrations as a major force. it's very unlike other historical atlases, though, in steering clear of spotlights on various cultures as they are changing. and the maps are stripped of all the detail we expect to see, the record of towns and ephemeral political borders in jurisdictions that come and go. a very interesting approach.

such a big subject. i remember the maps in public school; Africa was mostly red (British empire). and then in history classes soon enough, never mentioned again. in university there were no courses in it. meanwhile, it turned out to be the birth of civilization. this is not so much an atlas as titled, more an outline history, as the author points out. and as such, very useful as an introduction to the continent.

A really terrific book. It's basically a series of maps that show, through time, the flow of power in Europe and the Near East. The text is also excellent, a real marvel of compression and not without the ocasional touch of humour.

I read his Atlas of Medieval History last year so when I saw this I snapped it up. It's just as good. He is outdated on one or two points but you have the grand sweep of history from the Neanderthals to the last days of the Roman Empire, all told with personality and humour. I learnt loads. I never knew Europe had native silk. My favourite Kingdom is Meroe which never seems to either invade anyone or be invaded. Are we looking at the only competently managed place on the map?

I enjoy the Penguin format of periodic snapshot maps covering the whole area of interest. The mapping is not in fine detail, but if you are looking for an impression of what was going on at a specific moment, these books are good value for money. The ice sheet maps add an interesting dimension.

It's hard to get interesting coverage of the Hellenistic period, and the Penguin atlas has turned into a very useful resource, ecpecially with snapshot map format they use. Perhaps not a beginner's book, but certainly a useful one.

I'm very fond of the Penguin Historical Atlases of the 1980's and 90's. They were relatively cheap, and given the material at the price, the text was entertaining , and the format of periodic maps covering the whole continent about once in a generation was very useful for mental organization of the period. This is a fine example and a worthy successor to the Penguin atlas of Medieval History which it replaced.

This is a very fun book to read! It takes a very different, highly visual approach to sorting out history...I loved it.

The Penguin Atlases in this collection are fantastic if you like maps, are interested in history (rise and fall of kingdoms, empires etc.), and want a good general overview of events in Europe and the middle East from ancient times to the end of World War Two. They are a good starting point for further reading and specialization )in no means are they detailed enough themselves for scholarly interest. They are more a reference book that give a breif overview and wet your appetite for further reading. Apart from the three in this catalogue there is another in the series covering Modern History from 1815 to 1945.

Yeah, some people prefer chaps to maps, but maps have their allure, too. Presented here is a series of clearly drawn political maps, showing the shifting boundaries of Europe and adjacent lands from the traditional date of the Fall of the Roman Empire through the discovery of the New World. Supplementing them are several featuring religious and economic developments. Accompanying each map is a high level summary of what happened during the years since the preceding one. Experts will no doubt find errors and oversimplifications, but there aren't many more succinct and usable overviews of the Middle Ages.½

McEvedy's atlas is certainly a fascinating synopsis of medieval history. It's also nothing like what I hoped for when I bought it. Readers looking to identify medieval place-names with their geographic locations will be largely disappointed. Nearly all the maps are of an identical scale, to comprehend the whole of Europe, the Near East, and North Africa. What they do provide is diagrams for the location and movement of populations, cultures, and material resources throughout the area on a diachronic basis, with maps to account for every period of 25-50 years from the year 362 to 1483.

This is undoubtedly one of the great history books. The commentary is well written and engaging even as the author disgorges a huge amount of historical information.

The book takes us from the Dark Ages through to the beginning of the Renaissance. The book covers the rise and fall of nations, and well as religious changes and the flows of trade, and exploration.

The author himself summarises things best: "it is a marvellous catalogue of vices and follies, cunning and credulity, greed ambition and achievement. Plus a cast of thousands. Don't miss it."

Seriously, don't.

Extending from the Neanderthals to AD 362, west of Indus and north of the Sahel, this aims to be a rough overview rather than a detailed record. Good if you want an idea of, say, which people were in charge of Anatolia when ironworking first spread to Egypt, or who finished off the the Roxolani; bibliography and citations are absent, though, so not so good if you want to check out the evidence for the less certain claims. It's honest enough to flag up when it's being contentious, vague or hypothetical, though.
An absorbing and entertaining read, full of interesting digressions and the occasional soapbox tirade.½

I swear I've nearly worn this book out over the years. Inexpensive and infintely useful for tracing the ebb and flow in and out of medieval Europe