The Atlas of States: Global Change 1900 2000 provides an informative and comprehensively illustrated survey of the independent states of the twentieth century. The period witnessed unprecedented political changes as globalisation and the destructive powers of contending ideologies led to the continual transformation of state patterns in extensive sections of the world. Political leaders sought to harness the forces of nationalism, communism, imperialism, fascism etc., in an attempt to redraw the world map and in the process political structures of considerable antiquity were overthrown and fragmented. This did not preclude the resurrection of states destroyed in earlier eras. Recent turmoil in eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union has exposed historic peoples seeking to regain their own states, whether sovereign or not. In the course of the twentieth century the number of sovereign independent states almost quadrupled, despite the demise of some and the transitory nature of others. Most new states had pre-independence forebears, whether styled colonies, provinces, kingdoms or states . The pattern of non-independent states is thus significant as providing pointers to possible future independent states and The Atlas of States seeks to address this topic. By means of a series of clear maps and informative text, the author seeks to demonstrate the uncertain and ever-changing world in which we live, providing a comprehensive background from the past century in order to more clearly see the future in the new millennium.
