The Routledge Atlas of South Asian Affairs fulfills a long-standing need for a book of this nature. It is timely, especially when India is emerging as an economic power and much change is taking place in the various countries of South Asia. However, although the themes, topics, and concepts of this atlas are significant and appropriate, the execution and finish lacks professionalism. Although a good atlas of South Asian affairs is long overdue, this book is compromised by a number of problems of detail and fact that should be corrected were a second edition to be published.

The atlas is divided into five sections, and each is further subdivided into chapters devoted to specific topics. The first section is devoted to South Asia's global context, including South Asia in relation to world powers, South Asia and its neighbors, South Asia and the Muslim world, and an overview of the region's cultural fabric. This first section is well written and relatively comprehensive.

The second section illustrates South Asia's geographical environments and deals with such topics as South Asia's plate tectonics; the region's mountains, valleys, and plains; its various climates; its water resources; its natural vegetation and related issues of biodiversity; and its energy and mineral resources. This section seems somewhat weak in spots. The exploration of South Asia's climate is presented in a relatively balanced way, but other subsections lack detail.

The topics covered in the third section, which addresses the historical background of South Asia, include the history of the settlement of the region, the status of British and princely India at independence, partition, contrasting experiences of postcolonial governance, and the Cold War era in South Asia. Section three is comparatively better written, but a map provides an incorrect date for Mahatma Gandhi's assassination, noting the year as 1943 rather than 1948 (p. 100).

In the fourth section, the “key issues in modern South Asia” are identified as including population density and growth, fertility and mortality, urbanization, health and morbidity, literacy, border issues, water resources, natural disasters and environmental risk, air and water pollution, soil degradation, and climate change. Chapter 23, titled “New Borders and Unresolved Disputes: The Post-Colonial Legacy,” is a comprehensive exploration of a large number of border disputes that this region has been experiencing for a long time. The maps in this section are well drawn and vividly illustrate the text.

The final section covers three topics under the rubric of economy and security—the economies of the region, issues of defense and security, and cooperative development. It seems like this section should have included some of the policies that were initiated by the Narendra Modi government after May 2014, as the atlas was published in 2016.

There is room for improvement in this atlas. Some sections are sketchy, such as the chapter on literacy in South Asia. The author could have gone into more depth about Modi's rise to power and his efforts to foster understanding and friendship with various world powers including the United States. A serious deficiency is that several of the atlas's maps are not drafted properly. For example, in the book's world map, values of longitude are misleading (p. 8). Instead of 200 degrees or 240 degrees, it should have been 160 degrees East and 120 degrees East respectively. The map describing regions of historic earthquakes and regions of high seismicity indicates Bhutan with a line and dot, but labels it as Assam, a state in India. A third example is a map that, perhaps inadvertently, uses the old name of the state of Uttarakhand, which was Uttaranchal (p. 244). Other examples could be cited. It is a pity that the author or cartographer did not take the trouble to verify the accuracy and quality of the maps.

This atlas does not qualify as a new dimension of interpretation, nor is it especially innovative; nevertheless, given the paucity of comprehensive atlases of South Asia, it is still a useful book for scholars, students, and the general public who are interested in South Asian affairs.