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The State of the World Atlas

Over 50 full-colour world maps and graphics break down hardcore statistics to provide a compelling analysis of all the political, social, economic and ecological nightmares that keep us awake at night.

  • The world's car population has grown five times as fast as the human population over the last 50 years.
  • Wal-Mart's sales revenue exceeds the GDP of 150 countries.
  • Climate change may put 2.7 billion at risk of armed conflict.
  • Germany generates more tourists than anyone else.
  • Americans use 160 times more water than people in Rwanda...

If you want to get behind the headlines and understand the world – from urbanization to globalization, terrorism to tourism, military spending to human rights – this classic atlas is unmatched.

Dan Smith

is Secretary General of International Alert and former Director of the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO). In 2002 he was awarded an OBE. He is also author of The Atlas of War and Peace and The State of the Middle East. See: www.dansmithsblog.com

New York Times

The State of the World Atlas is something else - an occasion of wit and an act of subversion...These are the bad dreams of the modern world, given color and shape and submitted to a grid that can be grasped instantaneously.

New Scientist

A super book that will not only sit on your shelf begging to be used, but will also be a good read. To call this book an atlas is like calling Calvados, applejack – it may be roughly accurate but it conveys nothing of the richness and flavour of the thing. Its inventive brilliance deserves enormous rewards.

Los Angeles Times

Unique and uniquely beautiful...A single map here tells us more about the world today than a dozen abstracts or scholarly tomes.

International Herald Tribune

A striking new approach to cartography...no-one wishing to keep a grip on the reality of the world should be without these books.

Independent on Sunday

Outspoken cataloguing of global oppressions and inequities, painstakingly sourced.

Ecological and Environmental Education

Very lively and beautifully produced – one of the definite must-buys of books reviewed this year.

Evening Standard

Packed with fascinating facts and figures on everything from the international drugs industry to climate change.

Pure Living

An indispensable survey of current events and social trends that makes understanding the vast array of data both possible and pleasurable. Buy this book!

NME

A political reference book which manages to translate hard, boring statistics into often shocking visual statements... required reading.

US edition

ISBN: 978-0-14-311452-9

Penguin USA

UK edition

ISBN: 978-1-84407-573-7

Earthscan edition

French edition

ISBN: 2862609595

Éditions Autrement

German edition

ISBN: 3596146941

Fischer Taschenbuch

Spanish edition

ISBN: 8446011042

Ediciones Akal