A Historical Atlas of Azerbaijan (Historical Atlases of South Asia, Central Asia, and the Middle East)

Reviewed with Amy Romano's A Historical Atlas of the United Arab Emirates.

Gr. 4-6. Despite second-rate illustrations, these historical overviews will make useful supplements to relevant chapters in the Enchantment of the World books and similar assignment titles. Both authors present chronological accounts of their areas, from earliest human settlements to the early twenty-first century, including some cultural and geographic notes but focusing largely on political and ethnic topics. Considering oft-conquered Azerbaijan's turbulent past, Liberman does a creditable job of wrestling the successive peoples and leaders into coherence. Romano takes an easier path, blandly presenting the UAE as a modern success story, while, to judge from her bibliography, drawing information from English-language encyclopedias and travel guides. In both volumes, the illustrations--a combination of small photos, barely labeled outline maps with large blobs of superimposed color, and semilegible maps reprinted from old atlases, usually without attribution--aren't always helpful. Add these books to collections needing to bolster elementary-level social studies resources, or where previous volumes in the Historical Atlases of South Asia, Central Asia, and the Middle East series have proved useful. John Peters
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