The International Atlas

Summary

Norman J. W. Thrower reviews The International Atlas, published by Rand McNally in 1969 through collaboration with cartographic organizations in several countries. The volume contains Mikesell’s illustrated discussion of population, settlement, land use, urbanization, and resources; world and regional maps; maps of major urban areas at a uniform scale of 1:300,000; and an extensive place-name index. Thrower praises the consistent scales that facilitate regional comparison, abundant place names and transportation information, and accessible indexing. He identifies problems with similar land and water hues, dark backgrounds that impair the legibility of smaller names, and relief shading that is competent but insufficiently differentiated. He also notes the omission of the rectilinear pattern of the United States Land Survey System from the settlement illustrations and suggests that the map sequence and language choices may indicate a European-American bias. Overall, he judges the atlas a valuable reference work with international coverage.