“The West Point Atlas of American Wars. Volume 1: 1689-1900, Volume 2: 1900-1953 by the United States Military Academy, Brig. Gen. Vincent J. Esposito (Editor), Dwight D. Eisenhower (Introduction)

 

West Point Dept. Of Military Art and U.S. Military Academy, ISBN-13: 978-0275200800 

I inherited these books from my Dad, and they are absolutely brilliant. When I was I kid I loved to pore over a good atlas, and The West Point Atlas of American Wars. Volume 1: 1689-1900, Volume 2: 1900-1953 certainly count. Printed on thick Buckram paper, with clear lines and colored markings for the different armies involved in the action, along with sparse but easy to follow descriptions of the battles and campaigns, it’s no wonder these atlases have withstood the test of time in the 50+ years since they were first published. I have no idea where Dad got these books from – and I wonder at the fool who allowed them to slip away from him – but he purchased them almost solely for the maps of the Civil War battlefields that he soon-after began to visit, dragging Mom and their brood along with him.

“Military works are almost universally lacking in adequate maps” Brig. Gen. Vincent J. Esposito wrote in his Introduction to these books, and he was certainly right. Whenever I am reading a work on military history, especially on the American Civil War, and I find the maps (if there are any) to be inadequate, I no longer launch into a hate-filled tirade at the author and/or publisher for their obvious intellectual and creative deficiencies; rather, I walk over to my The West Point Atlas of American Wars and seek out the battle being discussed in order to better follow just what in hell is going on. And they have never failed me. Made to last the ages, I am certain that I will continue to use these atlases on my never-ending quest at self-education and improvement, and I pity the poor bastards who do not have such a brilliant resource.