Acclaimed travel writer and Oxford geography don Nick Middleton takes us on a magical tour of countries that, lacking diplomatic recognition or UN membership, inhabit a world of shifting borders, visionary leaders and forgotten peoples. Most of us think we know what a country is, but in truth the concept is rather slippery. From Catalonia to the Crimea, and from Africa's last colony to the European republic that enjoyed just a solitary day of independence, the places in this book may lie on the margins of legitimacy, but all can be visited in the real world. Beautifully illustrated by fifty regional maps, each shadowy country is literally cut out of the page of this book. Alongside stories, facts and figures, this Atlas brings to life a dreamlike world of nations that exist only in the minds of the people who live there.

Author Biography

Nick Middleton is a geographer, writer and presenter of television documentaries. He teaches at Oxford University, where he is a Fellow of St Anne's College. A Royal Geographical Society award-winning author, he works, teaches and communicates on a wide variety of geographical, travel and environmental issues for a broad range of audiences, from policy-makers to five year-old children. He is also the author of seven travel books, including the bestseller Going to Extremes, which was part of a number of television series he wrote and presented for Channel 4 on extreme environments and the people who live in them.