THE ATLAS OF SHIPWRECKS AND TREASURE

Dorling Kindersley has a lock on high quality atlases for young people. Here the topic is shipwreck and treasure. Newcomer Pickford presents the story in a thoroughly scholarly manner, with a large and exciting blast of swashbuckle running through it. He covers all the best known wrecks -- from Roman times through WW II -- from both national and historic perspectives, backgrounds the treasure and the characters who have gone after it, loads the telling with anecdote and high drama -- in short, keeps readers utterly enthralled. There are reconstructions, painting, and photographs of the vessels; fine-line and luxuriously colored maps; a wealth of arcana to capture the reader's fascination; and a detailed gazetteer of all known wrecks and their cargoes. The bounty of material is impressive, the presentation sharp, the whole product one big success. You can almost taste the salt, feel the heft of the gold bars.