An Atlas of Extinct Countries (Hardcover)
ISBN: 978-0008393854
Author: Gideon Defoe

Countries don’t last forever. Some are dismantled by war, others dissolve through incompetence, bad luck, or the occasional overconfident leader who thought invading Russia was a good idea at the time. A few disappear quietly, almost politely, as if they were embarrassed to still be around. Others exit history with a bang, a referendum, or a spectacularly avoidable collapse.

An Atlas of Extinct Countries is a guided tour through the nations that have fallen off the map—sometimes dramatically, sometimes absurdly, and often for reasons that feel almost suspiciously human. This is not a solemn archive of geopolitical mourning. It’s more of an irreverent obituary collection, where the “respectable” version of history is politely ignored in favour of the strange, the uncomfortable, and the downright ridiculous.

Across its pages you’ll encounter ambitious conmen, disastrous experiments in nationhood, overreaches of empire, ideological fever dreams, and the occasional administrative accident that somehow became a country. Some stories are tragic, many are absurd, and quite a few are both at the same time.

This atlas doesn’t attempt to tidy history into something dignified. Instead, it embraces the idea that nations—like people—are often messy, contradictory, and occasionally absurdly overconfident.

About the Author
Gideon Defoe is the author of The Pirates! series and wrote the screenplay for the Oscar-nominated Aardman film The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists. He has also written about animal sex and a computer game tie-in novel, demonstrating a consistent reluctance to stay on any single theme for long.

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