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Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need To Know About Global Politics Hardcover – 9 Jul 2015

4.7 out of 5 stars 191 customer reviews

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Elliott & Thompson (9 July 2015)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1783961414
  • ISBN-13: 978-1783961412
  • Product Dimensions: 24.2 x 2.9 x 16.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (191 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 4,970 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • See Complete Table of Contents

Product Description

Review

"Quite simply, one of the best books about geopolitics you could imagine: reading it is like having a light shone on your understanding... Marshall is clear-headed, lucid and possessed of an almost uncanny ability to make the broad picture accessible and coherent ... the book is, in a way which astonished me, given the complexities of the subject, unputdownable... I can't think of another book that explains the world situation so well." - Nicholas Lezard, Evening Standard

'A fresh and original insight into the geopolitics behind today's foreign policy challenges' -- Andrew Neil

"Compels a fresh way of looking at maps - not just as objects for orientation or works of art, but as guideposts to the often thorny relations between nations" -- The New York Times

'Crisply written and brilliantly argued' -- Dame Ann Leslie

'An essential and detailed reflection of the geopolitical dynamics that exist globally' --Dr Sajjan M. Gohel

"Sharp insights into the way geography shapes the choices of world leaders." -- Gideon Rachman, Financial Times

"A timely reminder of the importance of geopolitics ... A good bluffer's guide for the members of the newly elected Foreign Affairs and Defence Select Committees" -- Keith Simpson MP, summer reading list recommendations

"Marshall's latest book explains how politics is nothing without geography, in his crisp and compelling style ... What he really excels at is capturing the psychology of nations and giving maps a power that politicians must tame." -- Top Ten Holiday Reads - Dan Lewis, Stanfords, WorldTravelGuide.net

"Difficult to put down… Marshall succeeds in making lucid a complex topic."-- Chris Tilbury, Prospect

"There are few foreign correspondents in the current British media who can present an overview of a political situation quite like Tim Marshall … in Prisoners of Geography he presents this knowledge and experience quite brilliantly. It's a cleverly written book and underlines what makes Tim Marshall such an effective voice on world affairs" -- retroculturati.com

"A very good idea, very well executed -- and (perhaps as one expected) very entertainingly written" --Professor Anthony Glees, Director, Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies (BUCSIS), The University of Buckingham

"Shows the ways geography shapes not just history but human destiny... In an ever more complex, chaotic and interlinked world, Prisoners of Geography is a concise and useful primer on geo-politics. Marshall is not afraid to ask tough questions and provide sharp answers." -- Adam LeBor, Newsweek

"Remarkable and stimulating ... an eye opener in every sense. I now understand in ways that I never did before how much impact physical geography has on political reality. Within these pages you will find a heady mixture of accurate analysis and almost poetic description. ... If you are worried about the dumbing down of news but want to find out for yourself what lies behind the international headlines, this book would be a great place to start." -- Richard Littledale, blogger

"A reminder of the salience of geography in international affairs... . Ideologies may come and go but, says Marshall, who served a long stint as diplomatic editor of Britain's Sky News, such geopolitical facts of life endure." -- Daniel Dombey, Financial Times

"a timely reminder that despite technological advances, geography is always there, often forcing the hand of world leaders." -- Mark Cooper-Jones, Geographical

"Very useful … a highly accessible introduction to the geopolitics of every region on Earth. Considering that there are so many 'popular economics' and 'popular history' books out there, it's good to see a 'popular geography' or 'popular geopolitics' book" -- BMIResearch.com

"An introduction to geopolitics and geo-strategy … worth reading as a commentary on the subject"-- Army Rumour Service review

"An exceptional work, well-researched, argued and documented ... a treasure of information to satisfy the specialist researcher into contemporary geopolitics and offers a riveting insight to the general reader or student.... It is all covered in this magnificent book, which I highly recommend." --Nehad Ismail, writer and broadcaster

About the Author

Tim Marshall is a leading authority on foreign affairs with more than 25 years of reporting experience. He was diplomatic editor at Sky News, and before that was working for the BBC and LBC/IRN radio. He has reported from thirty countries and covered the conflicts in Croatia, Bosnia, Macedonia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Israel. His blog Foreign Matters was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize 2010.

He has written for newspapers including The Times, Sunday Times, Guardian, Independent and Daily Telegraph, and is the author of Shadowplay: The Overthrow of Slobodan Milosevic (a bestseller in former Yugoslavia) and "Dirty Northern B*st*rds!" and Other Tales from the Terraces: The Story of Britain¹s Football Chants. He is the founder and editor of TheWhatandtheWhy.com


Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

Format: Hardcover
The sub-title of this book makes a bold claim: “Ten maps that tell you everything you need to know about global politics”. While it is true that there are 10 double-page maps, there are another 10 smaller maps; the maps do not, of course, stand alone, but are supported by some 240 pages of text; and “everything” is inevitably a subjective judgement.

Having said all that, this is an exceptionally accomplished work with many admirable features: it covers every continent and major nation (except Oceania); it is immensely informative and bang up-to-date; it covers so much material in a commendably concise text; and the writing is clear while the judgements are insightful – all these attributes reflecting Marshall’s experience and skill as a British media reporter of international affairs and global conflicts.

The main theme of the book – reflected in the title – is that overwhelmingly geo-politics has been, and largely still is, shaped by the geographical characteristics of nations and their neighbours. As he puts it: "… the choices of those who lead the seven billion inhabitants of this planet will to some degree always be shaped by the rivers, mountains, deserts, lakes and seas that constrain us all”.

This central argument is illustrated in detail through 10 chapters looking at different nations or regions:

Russia: He explains the strategic thinking of the biggest country in the world that perceives two military weaknesses. First, the North European Plain that has been the route for successive invasions of the country since the Poles in 1605, leading the Russians to want a buffer of friendly nations to its west.
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By MisterHobgoblin TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on 29 Feb. 2016
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
In Prisoners Of Geography, Tim Marshall sets out to explain world politics in terms of geopolitics – that is, that nations are almost compelled by the physical attributes of their landscape to behave in certain ways. Thus, we are presented with a Russia that will always want to have a buffer of conquered states to the west where flat plains leave it vulnerable; South America will always be poor because the landscape lacks natural harbours and navigable rivers; and the interconnected rivers but high mountain ranges made it inevitable that Europe would become a trading zone divided by many languages.

This all sounds plausible, but does it make a book? Whilst some of the arguments are compelling, it is all presented through the “Lens of Now”. By that, I mean taking the current reality, looking for how geography might have contributed, and then presenting the current state of affairs as an inevitability caused by geography. So, by way of example, China is presented as a successful nation because the Han culture and Mandarin language have achieved dominance in a flat area with natural boundaries and navigable rivers, but development is focused on the coastal region because of ease of transport. But in a parallel universe, where the Han race and Mandarin language had not come to dominate the others, would Tim Marshall have been arguing that an area as vast and flat as China could never be united and enjoy stable governance, always being at the mercy of warlords constantly invading one another’s territory? And thirty years ago when China was not successful, it still had the same geography, didn’t it?

Other examples in the book – the Middle East in particular – don’t seem to be much about geopolitics at all.
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By atticusfinch1048 TOP 500 REVIEWER on 7 Aug. 2015
Format: Hardcover
As someone whose family has been victims of the Geography of where they lived and who they were in an often much forgotten episode of the Second World War. People forget that when the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939 their allies Russia invaded Poland on the 17th September 1939. My great-Grandmother was ‘exiled’ to Siberia because her son was fighting for the enemy (the Polish Government) and her husband was an officer in the Polish Police. My Grandfather escaped a Nazi POW camp made his way to France and after its fall to the UK. My great-Grandfather was never heard of again, and members of my family perished at Katyn, when my great-Grandmother was released in 1946 from Siberia, she could not go home, as her home was in the Stalin creation of Western Ukraine and was ‘moved’ to Krakow.

Many Eastern European Governments did not speak out when Russia moved in to the Crimea region whereas Western Leaders could not help themselves but make comments. Why the difference? Partly geography and mainly history, Crimea had been Russian until 1964 when Khrushchev gave Crimea to Ukraine, oh and Khrushchev was a Ukrainian. What we have not heard is a lot about Russia’s interference in Eastern Ukraine which Eastern Europe is very concerned about.

Tim Marshall’s excellent book Prisoners of Geography which examines ten maps of the world and then given a concise geopolitical history of that region. You will find out why Russian is concerned about Europe’s eastern border countries, and why it sees Poland as the gateway to the Russian plains as well as the European plains, and feels pretty secure with its other borders.

There is also an excellent examination on why China has finally come from behind the bamboo curtain and playing an active part with investments across the Asiatic content.
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