Swift, John. The Palgrave concise historical atlas of the Cold War.SWIFT, John. The Palgrave concise historical atlas A historical atlas is an atlas that includes historical maps and charts depicting the evolving geopolitical landscape. They are helpful in understanding historical context, the scope and scale of historical events and historical subjects (such as the expansion of the Roman Empire), of the Cold War. Macmillan, Palgrave, 160p. illus. maps. bibliog. index. c2003. 0-333-99404-3. $19.95. SA Most historical atlases are heavy on maps and light on text. This one is the reverse. While these maps are good general markers, in black, white and green without much detail, they serve primarily to illustrate text. And what a text there is to illustrate. Lancaster University Lancaster University (officially the University of Lancaster) is a collegiate campus university in Lancaster, England. The University is frequently placed in the top 20 UK universities in national league tables and in the top 10 for research, notably with its 6* Management (UK) lecturer Swift provides wonderful mini-essays on each topic he covers. The book is divided into five chronological sections, and each section contains seven to ten "chapters," or topics covered by the text/map combinations. Some sample rifles, to see how Swift organizes material: "The Berlin Blockade The Berlin Blockade (June 24 1948 to May 11 1949) was one of the first major crises of the new Cold War. It began when the Soviets blocked railroad and street access by the three Western powers (the Americans, British, and French) to the Western-occupied sectors of Berlin, and ," "The Two Chinas," "The Non-Aligned Movement The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is an international organization of states considering themselves not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. It was founded in 1950s; as of 2007, it has 118 members. ," "Detente dé·tente n. 1. A relaxing or easing, as of tension between rivals. 2. A policy toward a rival nation or bloc characterized by increased diplomatic, commercial, and cultural contact and a desire to reduce tensions, as through in the 70s." With each topic getting a two-page spread (left side for text, right for map), they're easy to use and follow. The essays are so good, I could easily imagine teachers getting this book out of the school library and using an essay or two for classes, if they felt the whole volume was a bit much. Daniel Levinson, Teacher, Thayer Acad., Braintree, MA |
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