John Davies (35) (1942–)
Author of The Red Atlas: How the Soviet Union Secretly Mapped the World
For other authors named John Davies, see the disambiguation page.
Works by John Davies
The Red Atlas: How the Soviet Union Secretly Mapped the World (2017) — Author — 202 copies, 3 reviews
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Davies, John Michael
- Birthdate
- 1942
- Gender
- male
- Short biography
- John Davies, editor of Sheetlines, the journal of the Charles Close Society for the Study of Ordnance Survey Maps, is an independent scholar. When he left school in Bradford in 1960, he says, it was “a prosperous city with plentiful opportunities”, where “going to university was not generally considered necessary”. Nearly 60 years later, and retired from a career in information systems, he believes that “a sense of adventure, curiosity and sufficient native wit has probably compensated for the lack of formal education”.
A lifelong map enthusiast, Davies first “encountered Soviet mapping while working in Latvia in the early 2000s”, and this “sparked…the urge to investigate the Soviet global cartographic project. We have dubbed these Soviet maps ‘the Wikipedia of the day’, in that the cartographers depicted on the maps everything they could discover about a place, without needing to know who would be using them.” Davies now runs the website Sovietmaps.com. - Nationality
- UK
- Associated Place (for map)
- UK
Members
Reviews
While this book can be a trifle hard to follow in spots, this is a fascinating account of how the USSR's military intelligence produced maps covering, it is believed, the entire world. It digs deep into the probable source material, and shows a wealth of detail. Very curious, indeed.
This is the fascinating story of how the Soviets spent untold rubles and hours compiling maps of the entire world. The project started just after WW2 and was intended as providing intelligence for countries that might fall under Communist rule, or might need a little help doing so. The maps were of a variety of scales, depending on the location, but all used essentially the same symbology and structure so that the Soviet military could use them quickly. There were also projects to develop show more maps for civilian use, including tourism, but these maps were purpose filled with distortions and errors so that foreign military officers would be mislead by them. I read the book on Kindle and it contained map full color maps which made the book even better. show less
This, along with detailed maps of most British cities and EVERY military base, is part of an amazing Soviet cold war exercise that is truly astonishing in it's scope. Now published in a book 'The Red Atlas' by John Davies and Alexander Kent, it details from 1950 – 1990 an incredible amount of information about our cities, streets and even the houses we lived in. Not just in Britain, they have mapped almost every country in the world, with even more interest is shown in the USA.
Their show more cartographers, like their athletes were amongst the best in the world and many of these incredibly detailed maps were made specifically for the Soviet military in potential wars against enemies abroad.
But like most of the socialist-realist propaganda posters, they transcend their original purpose. Decades after their creation, they are now unique works of art that will be a source of fascination to anyone interested in cartography or politics. show less
Their show more cartographers, like their athletes were amongst the best in the world and many of these incredibly detailed maps were made specifically for the Soviet military in potential wars against enemies abroad.
But like most of the socialist-realist propaganda posters, they transcend their original purpose. Decades after their creation, they are now unique works of art that will be a source of fascination to anyone interested in cartography or politics. show less
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 2
- Members
- 205
- Popularity
- #107,801
- Rating
- 4.1
- Reviews
- 3
- ISBNs
- 256
- Languages
- 7