From Library Journal
A classic atlas of South Asian history, this second impression (following the original impression, published by the University of Chicago Press in 1978) again makes available a work of importance to India scholars. Embracing a period from the Old Stone Age to 1975, Schwartzberg (geography, Univ. of Minnesota) provides over 200 plates covering mainly India but also to varying degrees Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and Burma. Each map is beautifully drawn, contains ample descriptive information, and is further accompanied by a historically accurate descriptive text. The atlas is composed of 14 well-balanced sections addressing South Asia's political, cultural, economic, and demographic aspects. Each section also contains a bibliography of works carefully chosen to support the study of each topic. The second impression includes 20 pages of "Addenda and Corrigenda" to the 1978 impression, along with some additional bibliographic entries and the updating of the end-cover chronologies. Schwartzberg indicates his desire to redraw and update certain obsolete plates, presenting substantive arguments. In conclusion, it is fair to recommend this cartographic classic to any appropriate library not possessing the earlier impression. However, neither the new materials nor the significance of the listed corrections demand its acquisition if the first is in hand.
- John F. Riddick, Central Michigan Univ. Lib., Mt. PleasantCopyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Kurzbeschreibung
Originally published in 1978,
A Historical Atlas of South Asia was received with enormous critical acclaim, variously characterized as "a landmark" and "a
tour de force." This invaluable resource is welcomed back in a newly updated form, no longer depriving scholars of this outstanding achievement.
The fruit of sixteen years of research, the
Atlas consists of over 650 beautifully rendered original maps, most in color, detailing the ethnographic, political, and cultural changes on the Subcontinent from prehistoric times to the present. The maps are supplemented by several hundred additional charts, tables, chronologies, photographs, and line drawings, arrayed side-by-side with the maps on 149 large photographic plates. Following and complementing the plates are some 150 pages of text, keyed to the maps, outlining the history of the region--from politics to religion--in formidable detail. For this second impression, Schwartzberg and his collaborators have contributed twenty pages of additional text and bibliography, bringing the volume up-to-date through the regional census of 1991. A bibliography of over six thousand sources, a comprehensive index, and five end-pocket inserts are included to make this a classic resource.
A virtual encyclopedia of South Asian history, the republication of the
Atlas offers students of Asian history, geography, religion, anthropology, archaeology, and politics access to a book that has been sorely missed and unlikely to be superseded in the foreseeable future.
