Atlantis publishes professional books in a number of areas, mainly history, art and literature, but also about design, fashion, architecture, economics and politics. Biographies of both historical persons and now living have a given place in the publication. Atlantis also publishes a scant selection of fictional titles and has an extensive classic series: Atlantis chooses from the world literature.
During the past year, the publisher has, among other things, presented acclaimed biographies of Stefan Zweig and Duchess Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotte, splendid works on Swedish furniture and royal burials and a acclaimed report book on Ukraine by Dagens Nyheter's co-worker Anna-Lena Laurén, which was also awarded the Publicist Club's prize Gold pen. Highly noted are Djursholm, a groundbreaking study on Sweden's leadership society by Professor Mikael Holmqvist, and Sweden's radio foreign correspondent Alice Petrén's book on French nationalism Made in France. During the year Atlantis also published an illustrated edition of Walter Benjamin's modern classic Passagearbetet in Ulf Peter Hallberg's acclaimed translation and Tore Rem's award-winning Knut Hamsun och resan till Hitler. Highlights in 2016 include Jan Kjærstad's great novel Släckter's gång, the re-publishing of George Simenon's Maigret books and French journalist Antoine Leiris's strong touch Mitt hat you do not get about the terrorist act at Bataclan in Paris when his wife was murdered.
The publisher's operations started in 1977 at Västra Trädgårdsgatan 11 B in Stockholm. The intention was to create a quality publisher — quality both in content and form. Ten years later, in 1987, the business was relocated to Sturegatan 24, an address that has since been an important meeting place for book lovers.
Under the leadership of Kjell Peterson, one of the publisher's founders, the publisher participated in the work of starting the historic book club Clio. In 2002, the book publisher Signum was acquired in Lund, a quality publishing company with a main focus on publishing art books.
Swedish Literature Society in Finland and the book publisher Schildts & Söderströms, both publishing Swedish-language literature in Finland and which were previously part of Atlanti's owner constellation. As of January 1, 2016, Atlantis is an independent company.