National Geographic Expeditions Atlas

Founded more than 112 years ago "for the increase and diffusion of geographic knowledge," the National Geographic Society has chronicled the exploits of some of the most famous explorers of the 20th century, and often helped fund those efforts. Roald Amundsen and Robert Byrd. Hiram Bingham and Howard Carter. Charles Lindbergh and Alan Shepard. Jacques Cousteau. Edmund Hillary. Will Steger. Bob Ballard. John Glenn.

In addition, the Society has reported on a different sort of explorer: anthropologists Louis and Mary Leakey, for example, primatologists Dian Fossey and Jane Goodall, and archaeologists such as Matthew Stirling and Kent Weeks.

National Geographic Expeditions Atlas, illustrated with hundreds of historic and contemporary photographs and more than 60 maps (both vintage and new), celebrates the achievements of Society luminaries. Some, like mountaineer Barry Bishop and diver Luis Marden, have been staff members. Many have contributed to the Society's official journal, National Geographic magazine: Amazonian explorer Loren McIntyre, for example; divers Sylvia Earle and David Doubilet; adventurer-scientists Joseph Rock and Roy Chapman Andrews; cartographer Bradford Washburn; mariners Amos Burg and Robin Lee Graham. Also part of Geographic's family: winners of the Hubbard and Grosvenor Medals, and recipients of the nearly 7,000 grants awarded by the Society over the past century to support scientific and geographic explorations.

National Geographic Expeditions Atlas is dedicated not only to all Geographic explorers past and present, but also to the enduring spirit that makes such expeditions possible: an insatiable thirst for knowledge about our planet and everything in it.

The yellow-bordered monthly frequently reprises its best-known articles for its loyal subscribers to savor, and this glossy slab of tabletop recycling features explorations that the National Geographic Society directly sponsored, from 1910, when the society made its name underwriting expeditions to Alaska, to the late 1990s. Although it contains some maps, it is not exactly an "atlas"; rather, the dramatic photograph dominates from cover to cover. The editors organize their greatest hits by topic: mountaineering (inevitably starring Mount Everest), aviation, polar exploration and adventures, assorted archaeological sites discovered in the twentieth century (especially pre-Columbian ones, such as Machu Picchu), underwater archaeology, and paleoanthropology (which National Geo popularized and also the Leakey name with its articles). Indeed, fame came to many thanks to its auspices: here, one gets reacquainted with the smiling, weather-beaten visage of Jacques-Yves Cousteau and with the solitary Jane Goodall and her chimpanzees. This tome will satisfy the library browser's needs with the beauty and grandeur of its photographs. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Written by current and former National Geographic staff members and organized into seven topical sections, this book takes you to the ends of the earth, into thin air, beyond the horizon, under the oceans, and searching for the past. It includes time lines, more than 220 vibrant photographs and illustrations, 60 maps recounting National Geographic's 112-year history of exploration, and first-hand accounts that introduce the reader to some of the bravest adventurers of our time, such as Jacques Cousteau, Richard Byrd, Amelia Earhart, Jane Goodall, and many more. A keepsake in the fashion of The National Geographic Society: 100 Years of Adventure and Discovery, this volume complements The Oxford Atlas of Exploration (LJ 1/98), a more traditional atlas going back to ancient times. A timely book for reflection while we enter the new millennium and a great way to teach adventurers of all ages about the past, this book is recommended for all libraries.DKimberly Bateman, Broward Cty. Libs., Deerfield Beach, FL
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.