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John Davies tells what the Soviet Union did many years before Google got the idea!
John Davies The Red Atlas
How the Soviet Union Secretly Mapped the World
After the collapse of the Soviet Union an astonishing treasure trove came to light – hundreds of thousands of maps showing in chilling detail countries and cities
throughout the world. The story of this amazing cartographic enterprise has never been told… until now!
You may not be surprised to learn that during the Cold War the Soviet Union gathered information about the West. But you may be astonished to discover just how much they
knew about London and other British cities – and even about your street or your house.
This is the never-before-told story of the world’s most comprehensive mapping endeavour and, arguably, the world’s most intriguing maps.
John Davies lives in Woodford Green and is a life-long map collector and enthusiast. A retired systems designer, John is editor of Sheetlines, the
Journal of The Charles Close Society for the Study of Ordnance Survey Maps.
Alex Kent is Reader in Cartography and Geographical Information Science at Canterbury Christ Church University and is the current President of the British
Cartographic Society.
Soviet map of Upton Park, with Ньюхэма книжный магазин in the centre.
“Belongs in the collection of every map enthusiast and military historian—carefully researched, well-written, and exquisitely designed and printed, it’s perhaps
the only recent map history that can be called a real eye-opener.” – Mark Monmonier, author of How to Lie with Maps.
“Utterly fascinating. A must-read for anyone interested in the former Soviet Union or in maps and mapping in general.” – Marina Lewycka, author
of A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian.
“This book is a sheer delight. It also carries huge educational and historical value by introducing the inner workings of the Soviet military topography.” –
Vitali Vitaliev, Geographical Journal, October 2017.
Interested in learning more about Newham Bookshop and some of the people connected with it? We have four lessons for classroom or family use developed from On the Record’s oral history project centered around Newham Bookshop, Writing and Reading Newham. Click here for full details.
Newham Bookshop is LoveReading’s Bookshop of the Month
We are proud that Newham Bookshop is LoveReading’s Bookshop of the Month. The article features a Q&A with Vivian Archer, which you can read here.
