The North Carolina Atlas: Portrait for a New Century (review)

236ALDERMAN Identity in the Contemporary South," one ofthe best essays in the book. In asserting their southernness, African Americans are not only challenging the legitimacy of Confederate symbols but also "consecrating" a new set of monuments to the Civil Rights Movement. Southern identity is no longer a designation reserved solely for Whites. In the contemporary South, "two well-defined ethnic groups are struggling to coexist peacefully under a common cultural canopy." Cobb struggles, as most scholars would, to provide answers to cultural debates such as those over flying the Confederate flag or memorializing Martin Luther King, Jr. Nevertheless, Redefining Southern Culture does an excellent job of preparing us, intellectually, to discuss and analyze the mind (or rather the minds) of the modern American South. The North Carolina Atlas: Portrait for a New Century. Douglas M. On; Jr. and Alfred W. Stuart, editors. Chapel Hill, NC: University ofNorth Carolina Press, 2000. 461 pp., index, maps, charts, photographs. $45.00 hardcover (ISBN 0-8078-2507-7). Patricia Gilmartin This is an "analytic atlas," according to the editors of The North Carolina Atlas. By this they mean that it is more than simply a book of maps; it contains extensive interpretive text that discusses and goes well beyond the information presented graphically. One could quibble, I suppose, over what comprises an atlas, along a continuum between a volume consisting entirely of maps and a hypothetical unillustrated regional geography text, but a review such as this is not the place for such a debate. Suffice it to say that relative to most conventional atlases, this one is heavy on text and light on maps, with chapters containing from seven to 22 maps and charts. It is a hefty volume of461 pages, with a landscape orientation consistent with the state's predominant east-west extent. In spite of its mass, the book is not unwieldy; its agreeable length and width proportions make it quite comfortable to lift, balance, and shift as one peruses it. Organized into 20 chapters, the subject matter of the volume covers a broad spectrum of information, beginning with North Carolina's diverse natural environments , which form the backdrop for human activities within the state. Succeeding sections of the book investigate the state's history, population, urbanization patterns , and economic factors such as agriculture, manufacturing, finance, and tourism . The next set of chapters explores a variety of topics that have a significant Dr. Gilmartin is Professor at the University ofSouth Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208. Internet: gilmartin-pat@sc.edu. REVIEWS237 impact on the lives of the state's residents, including crime, health, government, recreation, education, and water resources. A total of 28 authors contributed to the atlas. The majority of chapters are single-authored, but others have up to four different writers contributing separate subsections. The number of authors involved in the project undoubtedly brought greater individual expertise to various topics, and while the writing styles contrast both between and within chapters, the variations are not unduly distracting. The editors have done a good job in unifying prose styles so that transitions among authors flow fairly smoothly. Based on its content and writing style, the atlas seems most appropriate for adult and high school readers, not for younger students. Each chapter concludes with a list of selected references to which readers can refer for further information, but there are no footnotes or references within the text other than for data presented in tables, charts, and maps. This format makes for a tidier text, uninterrupted by parentheses, proper names, and numbers, but there are instances in which citations seem de rigeur—for example, to identify sources of direct quotes (as on p. 68), as well as in other circumstances where credit to specific sources seems called for. The atlas is produced in full color—bright, saturated hues comprising an attractive collection of thematic maps, charts, and photographs. The most common map is a county-level choropleth map with five or six classes, but other thematic symbolization types are represented as well: isolines, point symbols, proportional circles, and flow maps of traffic and travel data. Hue and value are applied appropriately for both qualitative and quantitative information. Chief cartographers of the volume, Laurie Gara...