This was an entertaining read about the, frequently short, lives of extinct countries. I enjoyed learning more about these countries through history and the circumstances that lead to their creation and downfall.

I received an ARC of this book by the publisher via Netgalley in an exchange for an honest review.

An Atlas of Extinct Countries is an interesting beast. I went into this microhistory non-fiction expecting in-depth analysis into failed civilizations such as Carthage and the USSR. Instead I got short summaries into white male colonialism delusions, lost causes, and political puppet states. These summaries are written in that trademark British dry humor that literally made me laugh out loud. As Defoe states, "There is a strong argument to be made that a full 90 percent of the the reason people start countries in the first place is because they want an excuse to get into flag design."

In the beginning Defoe starts with unheard of countries such as The Great Republic of Rough & Ready, The Islands of Refreshments, and The Soviet Repuic of Soldiers & Fortress-Builders of Naissaar (to name a few). He then moves onto nations such as the Serene Republic of Venice, the Republic of Texas (which as a native Texan I had to take an entire year of history learning about at the age of 12), The Congo Free State (an oxymoron), and Yugoslavia; each of which I've studied since they're historically relevant (no offense to the Republic of Rough &.Ready).

Some of the stories are funny, some are depressing, and some show how international superpowers really don't care about technicalities. This is one of those books that fill you with generally useless facts that might win you a lot of money on Jeopardy or more likely in your local game of pub trivia. The historically relevant nations it covers aren't explored in enough detail to give you more than the general idea of what happened and the rest are either cautionary tales or funny historical anecdotes.

Overall, I'm a sucker when it comes to both British humor and useless facts so An Atlas of Extinct Countries hit both targets. But be warned, if you're looking for serious analysis this is not the book for you. Overall I give this book 4 out of 5 stars and recommend it for microhistory fans that enjoy their trivia facts with a side of snark.

My favorite section was the last one, with countries of real import. I wish the info on those countries had been more in depth. This book is funny and informative.

My thanks to NetGalley and Europa Editions for an advanced copy of this reference book.

Gideon Defoe, author of the Pyrates series has written a new reference for those who chase windmills, those that go West, usually young men, and those who want to pay nothing in taxes, ingest whatever substances they can into their bodies, and what the heck be the sole ruler of your own country because it is good to be the King.

Mr. Defoe writes of real places, countries used as tax dodges, tobacco consortiums, fiefdoms, kingdoms and others that appeared and disappeared almost as suddenly, and remembered only in texts like these. Most share the common theme of being places ruled by people who wanted to make a quick buck, cheat somebody out of something, or just delusions of grandeur, with some rare exceptions.

The articles are brief, the history concise and to the point, why they came about, and why they aren't around any more. Perfect for a gift for that parent that always wants the latest almanac, or for a cryptocurrency kingpin with grand delusions.

I loved this book. It is informative and funny (read the footnotes). Author Gideon Defoe discusses some countries that really existed long ago, some countries that only existed in some people’s minds, and some that existed up until recently. Each entry has a stylized map showing the location of these extinct countries. None of the entries are very long and I fell into the trap of reading just one more. It was never just one. Overall this book is a great light read and is well worth it. Thank you to Netgalley and Europa Editions for the advance reader copy.

Gideon Defoe’s breezy book, An Atlas of Extinct Countries, is the kind of nonfiction I delight in. Defoe recounts the stories of 48 nations (more or less) that have mostly been forgotten. Some lasted for a few centuries. Others had histories lasting less than a year. A few were accidents made by cartographers. Others were grandiose projects launched by even more grandiose men (who were sometimes con artists). More than once, Defoe had me laughing at the wild stories he shared in these brief chapters.

Defoe begins An Atlas of Extinct Countries with a short introduction about what it means to be a nation. The word “nation” is one of those words that we think we can define until we start to think about it. Is it political? Geographical? Ethnic? A blend of all of these? There are countries on our planet that have been around long enough that their foundings are semi-mythical. Plenty of others were created over long years of wars, merges, splits, and unifications. But what about countries like Neutral Moresnet, the Republic of Cospaia, and the Free State of Bottleneck that were literally created because someone drew the lines wrong? They had to develop governments because no one else was going to be in charge and collect the taxes. We tend to think of nations as things that happened on purpose, but Defoe shows us over and over again that history is full of examples of accidental nations to challenge our definitions.

I think my favorite stories in Defoe’s collection are the countries that started as scams, like Poyais and the Kingdom of Araucanía and Patagonia. The men who “founded” these nations, Gregor MacGregor and Orélie-Antoine de Tounens respectively, were astonishing people with the ability to talk others into anything—mostly into emptying their wallets. Defoe’s prose is gleeful and galloping as he recounts tales that prove that truth is stranger than fiction.

An Atlas of Extinct Countries was a delight from start to finish.

An Atlas of Extinct Countries details countries and civilizations that have disappeared from the world over time.

I thought this was an incredibly interesting and creative read! I love reading about places and their histories, so I thought this was a really cool book. The illustrations and format was incredibly beautiful, and I found myself devouring the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

An entertaining and sometimes baffling global tour, dipping into history, geography and human eccentricity. Every chapter is devoted to another “extinct country”, some of which are familiar to the ordinary reader, like Bavaria or Texas, and some of which sounds like pure fantasy - but all of these outlandish stories are true.

Perfect gift for fans of maps and peculiar stories.

Thanks to the publisher, Europa Editions, and NetGalley for the advance copy of this book

Throughout the history of the world, the countries that have existed have been through constant change. Sometimes there's an invasion and sometimes it's just a case of an unclaimed island being claimed. This adorable book covers forty-eight countries that once existed but are now, in the words of the author, extinct, If you are looking for extensive information, this is not the place to go. Only a few pages are devoted to each country and one of those pages is a map. It's a fun book with humorous accounts of how countries came to be and again how they ceased to be. It's short and sweet and great for those with limited attention spans.

I really liked the way the writer pokes fun at so many of these entries. The comments become more irreverent as we progress through the book. After all, there are some recurring themes like greed, power, and money that are easy targets. Just when you think a country's story couldn't be more ludicrous, you are proved wrong.

This book is a delightful read and I give it 3.5 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley and Europa Editions for sharing an advanced reader copy in exchange for a fair review.

An Atlas of Extinct Countries is a delightful read, full of fun facts and written with a dry, witty humor. Covering many “extinct” countries, some genuine nations and others imagined by its populace as having an independence not necessarily recognized by others, this historical trip around the world is well researched, short and concise. I found myself often reading passages out loud and laughing with my spouse. Definitely recommended for history buffs and fans of unusual trivia.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this digital advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

When I saw the title, one word came to mind:

Prussia.

It's in all the history books. It was the home to great kings and thinkers--Frederick the Great, Alexander von Humboldt, Immanuel Kant. It forged Germany, but it isn't in Germany--or anywhere for that matter. But dour, grey, Europe-quaking Prussia didn't make Defoe's Atlas.

What appears instead is a rollicking array of "nations" more likely sourced from Ripley's Believe It Or Not! than from any actual history book. You'll read of con men, frauds and megalomaniacs, and of the dark corners of continents where even empires fear to tread. Defoe's atlas spans the world with extinct countries in all continents except Antarctica and unknown islands among the seven seas.

There are tales of nations from living memory: East Germany, Yugoslavia, come to mind. But in general Dafoe keeps the tone light, the facts and anecdotes streaming at a lively pace. Appendices covering some of the more interesting flags and "emo" anthems of the nations will tack on a few final chuckles.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with the book in return for an honest review.

This book was really beautifully done. Very thorough and engaging. I would definitely recommend it to history buffs and general nonfiction enthusiasts.

"This is an atlas of 48 nations that fell off the map." Some lasted a day or two and others survived for a thousand years until meeting their demise. Mixing his sense of the absurd with hilarious social commentary, Gideon Defoe delivers to the reader the basics of these territories and small countries: dates in existence; population; cause of death; and where the nation ended up. Then he goes after the conmen, racists, madmen, and schemers who caused all the problems and describes their flawed plans.

You don't have to read this straight through, although I enjoyed it so much I just kept reading. So many rabbit holes to go down. My first was Lola Montez in The Kingdom of Bavaria (1805-1918). My attention was also caught by a story about Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman who dreamed all his life of visiting People's Republic of Tannu Tuva's (1921-44) capital Kyzyl. After trying to get permission for years from the USSR, which annexed the country in 1944, a letter granting permission finally arrived two days after his death! Personally, I always hoped to sail to Rapa Nui/Easter Island (1200-1888) but that's not going to happen either. This charming book can take you traveling the world and keep you busy researching for days.

Even though there's a grown-up bibliography, this is not a reference book. It is a conversation starter and a perfect gift. Definitely a book worthy of any history enthusiast!

I received an advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own. #AnAtlasofExtinctCountries #NetGalley

The world as we know it is constantly evolving, constantly changing, and with it, countries change. They rise and fall like the tides. This book is a humorous look at several countries, principalities, and nation-states that have been left in the rear view window for one reason or the other.

And it's a lot of fun....

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An Atlas of Extinct Countries isn't going to win you any geography medals, but it was what I really needed right now. It's not an atlas in how most people think of the term (although it does technically fit the definition... technically). It's a lighthearted and unflinching look at some of the countries that used to exist... including ones in the reader's lifetime... assuming that the reader was born prior to 2014.

The book is fun. It's laid out as kind of an oversized obituary for the country and includes things like A Maternity Ward in Canada, Parts of Florida, Still more parts of Florida, Texas, and a whole slew of other, now defunct, countries. The entries generally include a generalized map of the nation, how long it existed for, and how it died. You get some history, amusing commentary, and general information about the country.

The book would be perfect for fans of Rejected Princesses, How the States Got Their Shapes, and One Night Stands with American History.

It's fun, it's educational, it's a great light read.

FIve Stars.

“An Atlas of Extinct Countries” by Gideon Defoe is a very humorous look at countries which have popped up and disappeared throughout history, some for a few days and some for much, much longer. We are introduced to 48 different countries which no longer exist – each country has a brief description, a hand drawn map, and a couple of pages describing how/why the country was founded and how/why the country disappeared.

Those expecting a serious discussion about international relations, the concept of statehood, or an in-depth history of fallen nations should look elsewhere. A good majority of these stories involve conmen and/or some sort of scam or error. With the possible exception of Yugoslavia, all of these stories involve shady dealings about places most of us have never heard of.

Mr. Defoe is a funny man, and I do appreciate his viewpoint on the ridiculousness of the concepts of a political country. However, I was expecting a little more historical fact and a little less humor and slapstick. An interesting read about the silliness of politics.

I requested and received a free advanced electronic copy from Europa Editions / Europa Compass via NetGalley. Thank you!

3.25 stars
This is an amusing, lighthearted look at a number of countries that no longer exist. Some of them existed for hundreds of years, some for just a couple of days. Some had millions of residents, and some only had a few. There are a couple of countries that most of us should have some knowledge of, such as East Germany and the Republic of Texas. But most are places that you’ve never heard of.

If you are looking for in-depth and detailed discussions on each of these places, look elsewhere. Each country only covers a few pages in the book, and each entry is presented in a humorous and sardonic fashion. So if you’re writing your history doctoral thesis I wouldn’t use this book as a reference, as the facts are a bit loosey-goosey. But if you’re someone like me who enjoys obscure history trivia then this is a fun read.

Thank you to NetGalley & Europa Editions for this advanced reader copy. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

To be fair, there are a few countries in this Atlas that never existed at all. But whether they existed in reality or in one pompous man’s ambitious dreams, all are fascinating.

This is a very readable – and very snarky – history of places and people that failed miserably.

You can page through it to see what catches your attention, or read straight through, but every entry is definitely worth reading!

The author is dry and funny and definitely gives the side eye to invaders of all stripes.

I thoroughly enjoyed this one!

*ARC via Net Galley

Defoe's book is a charming, fast read about the demise of forty-eight different countries that no longer exist. Each short section focuses on one country, its duration, the number of inhabitants, etc. and also includes a map showing where the country once existed. I was drawn in by the concept and some of the quirky and charming country names, including the Islands of Refreshment and the Quilombo of Palmares.

I might recommend reading this book over a span of time rather than in one or two sittings. It seems like the perfect sort of text to dip into when you have a few minutes to spare or are looking for some interesting history. For me, the quirky writing style got old the more I read at one time. I was also hoping for a bit more detail and context, but for those who want a fun, light read, this book delivers. Many will enjoy this book, and it would make a perfect coffee-table read.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Europa Editions for my copy of An Atlas of Extinct Countries by Gideon Defoe in exchange for an honest review. It publishes June 8, 2021.
This was just a bundle of fun, in all the ways! I highly enjoyed the history and education portions, I also found the writing to be absolutely hilarious! "Cause of Death: Nobody took it seriously." I truly laughed-out-loud multiple times while reading this. The anecdotes were also really interesting and great conversation starters.
I think this would make a great gift, and definitely would be a wonderful coffee table conversation starter book!

Fun, witty and informative. The subheadings and chapters made me chuckle. I truly enjoyed reading through this book. It kept my attention with a bit of wit sprinkled through the facts.