O. L. · 1938
This review assesses Volume I of the Great Soviet World Atlas, edited by Gorkin, Shmidt, Motylev, Nikitin and Shaposhnikov. O. L. describes a two-part volume: a world section covering exploration and mapping, physical environment, population, economic activity and political geography, and a Soviet section with physical, resource, industrial, agricultural and communications maps, supplemented by charts comparing tsarist and Soviet production. The reviewer judges the Atlas to embody a mature, historically grounded geographical method, praises the selection of projections, printing, binding and coloring, and notes the absence of a map explicitly showing the tsarist empire's metropolitan and colonial regions; such a map is expected in Volume II. The review presents the work as the first of three projected volumes.
А. Либкинд · 1938
A. Livkind reviews volume I (1937) of the Great Soviet World Atlas, organized into world maps and maps of the USSR, with almost half the volume devoted to physical geography. He presents its compilation as an implementation of Lenin’s atlas proposals and praises its Marxist-Leninist framework and historical treatment of economic and political geography. His detailed discussion covers maps of financial dependence, colonial partition and imperial rivalry, alongside Soviet natural resources, industrial redistribution, transport, urban growth and agricultural collectivization. He reads these maps as evidence of a contrast between capitalist exploitation and Soviet socialist development. Livkind values the volume as a university teaching aid and reference work, praising its accompanying statistical tables, generally clear maps, paper, printing and colors. He nevertheless finds the maps of imperial powers’ sales and raw-material markets overloaded, calls for replacement of the outdated Soviet administrative-political map, and requests an explanatory companion volume. Comparisons with foreign world atlases support his favorable assessment of its thematic breadth.
С. Кумадьев · 1938
S. Kutafyev describes the compilation programme and mapping methods of the Great Soviet World Atlas, treating volume I as published and volume II as prepared for printing. Volume I combines world maps with more detailed maps of the USSR, covering physical geography, population, production, transport, trade, and political and economic relations. Volume II is to provide an overview map and an economic map for each Soviet republic, territory and region, supplemented by maps of major economic areas and historical appendices. Kutafyev explains the common elevation colours used across overview maps, with 8, 11 or 16 height intervals according to scale. Regional economic maps use proportional circles for industrial output, colours for industrial sectors, background colouring for agriculture, and lines and labels for transport. He presents these methods as supporting comparison and an integrated depiction of the distribution of production. His praise of the atlas's scientific authority rests explicitly on its Leninist–Stalinist framework and its intended demonstration of socialist economic superiority.
