Atlas of Forgotten Places: Journey to Abandoned Destinations from Around the Globe

From a disused New York subway station to a train cemetery in Bolivia, from a crumbling Berlin cinema to a derelict industrial monolith, from a vacant five-star hotel to a Namibian village buried under sand. These locations are a stark reminder of what was, and the accounts in this investigative book help to bring their stories back to life, telling us what happened, when and why, and to whom.

Original maps and stunning colour photography accompany Travis Elborough's moving historic and geographic accounts of each site. Trace our lesser known human history through ancient sites and twenty-first century ruins, as well as the most contemporary examples of urban decay, like Detroit's lost beloved National Theatre.

The book features over forty sites, including:

• Santa Claus, Arizona, USA: A festive tourist resort turned ghost town deep in the desert where once you could meet Santa Claus any day of the year
  
• Crystal Palace Subway, London, UK: One of the city's best-kept secrets is an underground, cathedral-like relic from where many Victorian commuters bustled through
• Peter Ice Cream Factory, NSW, Australia: A booming factory that was expanded to accommodate demand, and even featured a staff swimming pool, now abandoned in favour of a more economically viable building
  
• Aeroplane Graveyard, Bangkok, Thailand: A large open wasteland where decommissioned planes rest, some entirely intact, surrounded be weeds and detritus, and presently occupied by families seeking shelter
  
• Balaklava Submarine Base, Crimea: The former top-secret Soviet submarine base that was kept off all official maps and known as Object 825 GTS
  
• Ospedale Psichiatrico di Volterra, Tuscany, Italy: Once dubbed 'the place of no return', this long-closed lunatic asylum once housed 6,000 patients who were never allowed to leave
  
• Tsaparang, China: A crumbling citadel in the Himalayas that inspired the myth of Shangri-La.