Atlas Books was founded in December of 2002 as an independent publisher of quality nonfiction. Impelled by the conviction that a publisher with a strong identity and a clear mandate would make an enduring contribution to the marketplace of books, we originally set out to produce a handful of strongly focused series.

Great Discoveries, discoveries that marked a turning point in the history of science, in partnership with W. W. Norton & Company, met with critical and commercial acclaim. Eminent Lives, a series of brief biographies by distinguished writer of our day, in partnership with HarperCollins, made an indelible impression on the genre, and our signature format—short books in a small trim size, with a unique pairing of author and subject—has been widely emulated.

Beginning in the spring of 2008, Atlas & Co.—a new name that reflects the collective nature of the enterprise—launches its inaugural independent list. International in scope, the list features a memoir by a former factory worker in China, a stunning collection of photographs of the 1961 Mississippi Freedom Riders, a worldwide survey on the history of book destruction, and a spirited account of one man’s journey through Kazakhstan, among others—a list that will establish our name as one of the leading publishers of high-quality nonfiction in America.