Book review: Atlas Nacional De Guatemala

Summary

This text is a collection of book reviews originally published in a cartography and geography journal. It critically assesses four distinct works. The first review examines the Atlas Nacional de Guatemala (1972), commending its cartographic excellence, appropriate scales, and high-quality photographs, while noting that the accompanying text could be expanded on social and industrial themes and would benefit from measurement conversions for unfamiliar readers. The second review discusses Make Me a Map of the Valley: The Civil War Journal of Stonewall Jackson’s Topographer, edited by A. P. McDonald. The journal of Jedediah Hotchkiss provides a rare grassroots primary-source account of the American Civil War and the life of a map maker for Confederate generals; however, its daily repetitions and trivial details may prove tedious for non-specialists. The third review evaluates Die Grossen Kalten Berge Von Szetschuan by Eduard Imhof, a richly illustrated account of a 1930s expedition to the Minya Konka Range that combines landscape painting, field-survey methods, and Swiss cartographic tradition to fill a blank spot on world maps. The final, briefer review covers Automatic Interpretation and Classification of Images, a 1969 lecture collection whose interdisciplinary approach to digital image processing retains significance for computer cartography despite its delayed availability. Collectively, the reviews highlight intersections of cartography with history, art, exploration, and computation, and serve as guidance on each publication’s scholarly value.