Colorado: A Historical Atlas

by Thomas J. Noel (Author) and Carol Zuber-Mallison (Cartographer)

This is a thoroughly revised edition of the Historical Atlas of Colorado, which was coauthored by Tom Noel and published in 1994. Chock-full of the best and latest information on Colorado, this new edition features thirty new chapters, updated text, more than 100 color maps and 100 color photos, and a best-of listing of Colorado authors and books, as well as a guide to hundreds of tourist attractions.

Colorado received its name (Spanish for “red”) after much debate and many possibilities, including Idaho (an “Indian” name meaning “gem of the mountains” later discovered to be a fabrication) and Yampa (Ute for “bear”). Noel includes other little-known but significant facts about the state, from its status as first state in the Union to elect women to its legislature, to its controversial “highest state” designation, elevated by the 2013 legalization of recreational cannabis.

Noel and cartographer Carol Zuber-Mallison map and describe Colorado’s spectacular geography and its fascinating past. The book’s eight parts survey natural Colorado, from rivers and mountains to dinosaurs and mammals; history, from prehistoric peoples to twenty-first-century Color-oddities; mining and manufacturing, from the gold rush to alternative energy sources; agriculture, including wineries and brewpubs; transportation, from stagecoach lines to light rail; modern Colorado, from the New Deal to the present (including politics, history, and information on lynchings, executions, and prisons); recreation, covering not only hiking and skiing but also literary locales and Colorado in the movies; and tourism, encompassing historic landmarks, museums, and even cemeteries. In short, this book has information—and surprises—that anyone interested in Colorado will relish.

Paperback | 368 pages | University of Oklahoma Press; First edition | 2019

Thomas J. Noel is Professor of History and Director of Public History, Preservation, and Colorado Studies at University of Colorado Denver. He appears regularly on Denver’s Channel 9 (NBC) as “Dr. Colorado,” writes a Sunday Denver Post column, and is the author or coauthor of more than 40 books, including Colorado: A History of the Centennial State (co-authored with Carl Abbott and Steve Leonard) and Colorado: A Liquid History and Tavern Guide to the Highest State.

Carol Zuber-Mallison is an award-winning freelance artist specializing in maps and informational graphics. For 14 years she was an editor and artist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and the Dallas Morning News. She also created maps and graphics for the Texas Almanac and Texas: A Historical Atlas.