Atlas of extinct countries

States die. Sometimes it's murder. Sometimes it's an accident. Sometimes it's because they were too ridiculous to exist from the start. Occasionally, they end in a violent explosion. A few slip off the map unnoticed. Often, the cause of death is listed as "became too greedy" or "Napoleon showed up" or "mosquitoes." Now and then, they simply hold a referendum and vote themselves out of existence. In this humorous atlas, Gideon Defoe takes us into a cabinet of curiosities of history, exploring in an entertaining and delightful way the quirky, bizarre, and mysterious fates of 48 countries that no longer exist today for countless and often absurd reasons, including the Republic of Bottleneck and the Refreshment Islands.