Books: On Maps and Chaps

“Geography”, said Mr. Bentley in one of his famous clerihews, “is about maps” and history—”about chaps “. But, as Mr. Andrew Boyd points out in his recently published book, geography is really about them both.

Those who remember Mr. J. F. Horrabin’s pre-war Atlas of Current Affairs and the way in which he dealt both with maps and chaps will certainly be interested in Mr. Boyd’s AN ATLAS OF WORLD AFFAIRS (Methuen. 6s. 6d.). It is another of those convenient compendiums so useful to anybody with an interest in keeping abreast of the many events and developments in the world but who find themselves with so little time to do it. It will naturally be of interest to Socialists, in particular to writers and speakers.

The book consists of 70 maps, clearly drawn and annotated in black and white, cach with its accompanying page of background information. Those maps which are inter-related are efficiently cross-referenced. The subjects they cover are many and varied and provide an impressive picture in themselves of the problems and complexities of the modern capitalist world.

Strategy, trade, production, race tensions, nationalism, disputes and troubles of every sort, are translated into graphic terms. So are the areas of the world where they happen—Africa, Cyprus, the Middle East, Korea, the Arctic, Europe with its trade divisions, France and North Africa, Poland’s frontiers, the development of China, these and many other aspects of the current world scene are mapped and factually described.

Of easy reference and readability, attractively produced and printed, it is in short an ideal repository of compressed information at a very reasonable price.
S.H.