The ratio of words to maps is surprisingly, and counterproductively high. Much of the text consists of quotes from historical documents, sometimes several pages at a time, that don't seem fully germane to the topic. Many of the maps are unfortunately small and poorly reproduced, sometimes making them impossible to read (legible and full color versions of some of the maps discussed are now locatable on the Internet). A much shorter volume would have sufficed to cover this topic. ( )