John Rennie Short is a professor in the School of Public Policy, University of Maryland, Baltimore County. He has published widely in a range of journals and is the author of fifty books.

List of Figures; List of Tables; Acknowledgments; 1. Introduction, A Century of Nationalism, The Main Arguments, Structure of the Book; 2. The Early National Atlas, A Cartographic Explosion , The Early National Atlas in England and France; 3. Cartographic Anxieties and the Emergence of the Modern National Atlas, The Modern National Atlas in Latin America, From Anxieties to Certainties, Remaining Anxieties; 4. Cartographic Ruptures and the National Atlas, Cartographic Declarations of Independence, Revolutionary Ruptures, A Transect across the Ruptures; 5. National Atlas, Global Discourses, The Global Framing of the National, The Language of the Atlas: Text, The Language of the Atlas: Maps; 6. The Physical World of the National Atlas, Origins, Science, State and the National Atlas, National Imaginaries, Contested Discourses of the National Atlas; 7. The Social World of the National Atlas, Social Statistics, Statistical Atlases, Social Categories; 8. The End of the National Atlas?, Information Overload, New Technologies, National Atlas as Digital Portal, Toward a Polyphonic Participatory Atlas; Notes; Appendix: National Atlas Bibliography; Index