A Historical Atlas of Iraq

The "Historical Atlas of Iraq" provides a good, brief High School level overview of Mesopotamia and Iraq that concentrates as much on history as on maps. It covers the history of the area from about 3000 BC until 2002 AD, just before the current American involvement in Iraq. There are about 20 maps and also very nice illustrations, pictures, and text boxes on various topics. There are some minor disconnections between text and maps. For example, the text makes reference to the Zagros Mountains but these are not labeled on any of the map so that if you did not already know where they were you would need to look them up. Also, the book covers the period from Alexander the Great (about 320 BC) to the Arab conquest (about 650 AD) in just a few sentences, though to be fair this is the period of Mesopotamian history about which we know the least. There is a brief chapter for each of the major periods of Mesopotamian history along with accompanying illustrations and maps. One of the nice things about this book is that it does a good job discussing the modern history of the area, from about World War I forwards. So that any student looking for the background to current events can find a brief but balanced discussion here (it even includes a map of the First Gulf War). In the back of the book are suggestions for further reading and a listing of a few related websites. The publishers, perhaps realizing how quickly events were changing in the region, also include related links on their website.