A History of the World in 47 Borders cover art

A History of the World in 47 Borders

The Stories Behind the Lines on Our Maps

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A History of the World in 47 Borders

By: Jonn Elledge
Narrated by: Jonn Elledge
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About this listen

'Fascinating' TOM HOLLAND

'A delight from start to finish' MIRANDA SAWYER
'A novel and fascinating perspective on world history' BILL BRYSON
'By turns surprising, funny, bleak, ridiculous, or all four of those at once' GIDEON DEFOE

People have been drawing lines on maps for as long as there have been maps to draw on. Sometimes rooted in physical geography, sometimes entirely arbitrary, these lines might often have looked very different if a war or treaty or the decisions of a handful of tired Europeans had gone a different way. By telling the stories of these borders, we can learn a lot about how political identities are shaped, why the world looks the way it does - and about the scale of human folly.

From the Roman attempts to define the boundaries of civilisation, to the secret British-French agreement to carve up the Ottoman Empire during the First World War, to the reason why landlocked Bolivia still maintains a navy, this is a fascinating, witty and surprising look at the history of the world told through its borders.

©2024 Jonn Elledge (P)2024 Headline Publishing Group Ltd Earth Sciences Human Geography Science Social Sciences World Imperialism Funny Witty War Ottoman Empire Middle Ages Latin America Africa
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The author also narrated the book, he had a laugh writing and reading this book, highly recommended for a great listen, I learnt things I never knew.

Very Interesting

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There weren't some of more obvious weird borders in this book but it was interesting learning about stuff I wouldn't necessarily assume would have been in here about GMT and the international date line. There is a decent emphasis on history here and there are some great stories but as a massive geography nerd, there were some borders I hoped might have been in this like the Denmark Canada border or the Oman UAE enclave. Nevertheless, very pleased a book like this was written as it's great for anyone interested in geopolitics.

It's always cool when the author narrates the book - can hear their passion for the subject come across.

Not a typical collection of border stories

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