The Routledge Historical Atlas of Jerusalem

Contemporary Review, Spring, 2009

The Routledge Historical Atlas of Jerusalem. Martin Gilbert. Routledge. [pounds sterling]65.00. ISBN 978-0-415-43343-3. This is the fourth edition of a text first published in 1977 as Jerusalem Illustrated History Atlas. The survey begins with 332 BC and ends with the present-day city. The format is to have on the recto side maps (69 altogether), diagrams and, where applicable, boxed chronologies.

On the verso are illustrations of the period being covered. The aim is to 'provide a broad survey of Jerusalem's history, with special emphasis on the city's development during the last 150 years'. There is a useful map of the city's water supplies: given the lack of water in the Holy Land this is significant. There appears to be no reference to the King David Hotel atrocity in 1946 in which 91 people were murdered by Zionist terrorists although there is a photograph of the hotel before the bombing. There is a paperback edition available at [pounds sterling] 19.99. (P.P.F.)