Category: Atlases & State of the World

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Review: The State of War and Peace Atlas (Penguin Reference)

5 Star, Atlases & State of the World

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5.0 out of 5 stars Dramatic Graphics of Global Condition,

August 19, 2000
Dan Smith
Together with the State of the World Atlas, this book ranks as one of the very best and most useful compilations of what I call “strategic generalizations”, but with the very great added value of being presented in a graphical form that is easy to understand. As the international media becomes less and less useful as a means of appreciating how global conditions threaten our own internal security and prosperity, guide books like this one become all the more valuable to citizens and their elected representatives. This is an essential desk reference for every student striving to learn how to think, not just memorize, and for every adult who cares to understand just how unstable and diminishing is the world we are leaving to our children. The book is *not* out-of-date in 2000, but we would all benefit from a new edition coming out that might expand on the core value of the 1997 edition.
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Review: The State of the World Atlas: Sixth Edition

5 Star, Atlases & State of the World

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5.0 out of 5 stars Not Just Graphics, But Sources and Perspective are Stellar,

August 19, 2000
Dan Smith
his book, together with The State of War and Peace, is a desktop classic that would make an outstanding gift for any student of any age, and for any adult concerned about the state of the world we are leaving to our children. This is much more than a book of graphic generalizations; as a researcher myself I especially appreciate the specific identification of the sources that were consulted, and the summaries of each of the major political-legal, socio-economic, techno-demographic, ideo-cultural, and natural-geographic conditions threatening the stability of the “Whole Earth”. I dare to think this book should be required reading for our elected representatives as well as our military commanders charged with “shaping” their regional environments.
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Review: Zones of Conflict–An Atlas of Future Wars

4 Star, Atlases & State of the World, Future, Strategy, War & Face of Battle

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4.0 out of 5 stars Great Approach, Missed Some Big Ones, Still a Real Value,

August 19, 2000
John Keegan
Zones of Conflict has not yet been surpassed by other published works, mostly because others focus on specific regions. This is still a valuable work, largely because of the process and the framework it provides for thinking about geographically and culturally based sources of conflict. Published in 1986 it missed some big ones: Somalia, Rwandi-Burundi, the Congo, the break-up of Yugoslavia with the Kosovo aftermath. We'll give them credit for the Gulf flashpoint. What's the point? No one can predict with any certainty where major humanitarian conflicts will emerge, but if one combines Keegan and Wheatcroft's approach with environmental and economic and social overlays (such as are offered by several other “States of the World” endeavors), then a useful starting point is available for asking two important questions: what kinds of conflicts will we be dealing with, under what kinds of terrain and cultural conditions; and second, given those realities, what kinds of forces and capabilties should we be developing? Against this model, the U.S. Joint 2020 vision falls woefully short, and the NATO alliance appears equally unprepared for a future that will be characterized by “dirty little wars” well out of NATO's area but highly relevant to the well-being of the NATO population. One might also make the somewhat puckish point that it does not take a $30 billion dollar a year spy community to create a common-sense strategic document such as this–it can be had for under $20.
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