This is at least the sixth Jewish atlas to appear in the past ten years. Some, such as Evyatar Friesel's excellent Atlas of Modern Jewish History (CH, Dec'90) and Haim Beinart's Atlas of Medieval Jewish History (CH, Jan'93) are more focused in coverage and do not extend, as this newest atlas does, from Biblical times to the present. Martin Gilbert's Illustrated Atlas of Jewish Civilization (CH, Jul'91), his Atlas of Jewish History (1993), and N.R.M. De Lange's Atlas of the Jewish World (1984) are roughly comparable to the new work, which has, however, a clear edge in the quality of its graphics. An enormous amount of information is conveyed through charts, maps, photos, drawings, and graphs designed for maximum visual impact from a satellite photo showing the different routes of the Exodus to an outline of Europe with colored bars over each country representing the number of Jews before the war and the number exterminated by the Germans. Is is difficult to imagine how the scale of the Holocaust might be illustrated more dramatically, especially for Poland. Text and a timeline accompany each set of illustrations in more than 130 double-page spreads presented more or less chronologically. Highly recommended for general readers and undergraduate collections. S. Lehmann; University of Pennsylvania

Publishing an atlas purporting to cover the history of the Jewish people from antiquity to the present is a courageous, even audacious act, particularly when all this is to be done in fewer than 300 pages. Yet this atlas of the Jewish people succeeds beautifully in doing just that. It is broader in scope than Evyatar Friesel's Atlas of Modern Jewish History ( LJ 1/91), which only deals with the modern period, and more in depth than Martin Gilbert's Illustrated Atlas of Jewish Civilization: 4000 Years of Jewish History ( LJ 3/1/91). Covering three millennia of Jewish history and culture through a combination of concise text, accurate and well-drawn maps, and a sumptuous array of photographs, diagrams, and reproductions of paintings, this atlas succeeds in covering all the main themes of the Jewish experience. The material is arranged chronologically and systematically, and a glossary and index are included. The result is a reference that will profit both scholars and lay readers. Highly recommended for all libraries.-- Je huda Reinharz, Tauber Inst., Brandeis Univ., Waltham, Mass. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.