Book Review -Prisoners of Geography - Tim Marshall
‘Prisoners of geography’ is a fascinating work, and one of the best geopolitics books I’ve read. If you are watching the news at present and wondering why Russia is assigning troops along it’s border with Ukraine, Tim Marshall explains how important it is to Russia in terms of it's ambitions - Ukraine has a warm water port, something the whole of Russia doesn’t have, and it has access to the Black Sea.
Geopolitics
Mountains, seas and oceans, deserts and flatlands, have not only defined how countries were formed and how they acted in the past, but how current geopolitics are still explained by them. There are ten maps in all, also looking at China (particularly interesting, exploring it’s interest in mineral rich countries in Africa), South America, India and Pakistan, the Middle East - I did a lot of flicking back and forth looking at the maps, so I’m not sure if this book would work as well on Kindle. (Though it did remind me of how much I loved maps as a child.) One of my favourite maps was of the Arctic, already becoming busy with various powers making their claims.
Like I said, China is one to watch. It doesn’t have the same concern for ‘rights’ that other countries do, it’s quite safe within it’s borders (mountains are pretty handy). He explains why China will most likely surpass the US as the global superpower in the next ten years, and we need to understand this as it begans to expand it’s interests, no doubt ‘butting’ heads as it does.
Of course the change in our climate plays a part too. As the ice continues to melt, it makes it easier to navigate the north west passage across parts of Canada and Russia. Deposits of oil and gas have been uncovered, with various competing claims to these resources. We can expect ‘conflict’ between various countries over this in the future. Like I said, flashpoints everywhere.
Prisoners of Geography Summary
The world is such a shitshow at the minute that geopolitics can be incredibly difficult to understand. Insightful books like this are much needed, and I think the average person can gain a greater understanding of the world we live by reading this. A book like this can be the launching pad to delve deeper into world geography, politics and history.
Written in a clear and engaging style, ’Prisoners of geography’ is easy to read as Tim Marshall makes the difficult simple, and I felt a bit better informed about modern geopolitics after I read this - definitely a useful introduction to the topic.
Book review - Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall
July 9, 2015 by Elliott & Thompson 306 pages