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A review by travellingcari
Prisoners of Geography, Volume 1: Ten Maps That Explain Everything about the World by Tim Marshall
5.0
An amazingly resonant book, and my first venture to the new Amazon Books store at the Time Warner Center.
It’s a very readable look at the world and relatively contemporary: pre Trump election, but post Brexit vote. It also awakened the International Studies major and history lover in me but I highly recommend it to all readers.
The book is organized by region/country with a map as chapter intro and I think this might be one of those books that’s better in paper form — I frequently found myself flipping back to the map when I wondered where exactly a border point was. One of the quick themes that covers most sections is the mess that colonialization wrought on the world. While it’s the Middle East’s struggles most frequently in the news today, the same problems remain in southeast Asia, Africa and South America with relative differences in the amount of blood being shed. As was true when I read Jessica Alexander’s [b:Chasing Chaos: My Decade In and Out of Humanitarian Aid|17262365|Chasing Chaos My Decade In and Out of Humanitarian Aid|Jessica Alexander|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1380494197s/17262365.jpg|23859165], the African bloodshed resonates with me because the Rwandan genocide was a major news event when I was learning world history in high school. Marshall’s points about the artificial lines drawn there, DRC, Nigeria and throughout the continent make it clear why there will always be bloodshed. Like in Iraq, we as westerners can call them “Rwandans” or “Iraqis” but that doesn’t mean they’ll ever get along, or let borders keep them from members of their historical tribes, now “foreign”.
There’s only so much technology can surmount and that remains true when fighting wars, looking to expand or invade. One of the saddest cases of technology is of course Tibet and the railroad. In 1998, Paul Theroux remarked in Riding the Iron Rooster, “The Kunlun Range is a guarantee that the railway will never get to Lhasa.” Not even twenty years later, the railway was opened and trains come from Beijing and Shanghai four times each day. That, moreso than anything else, will likely mark the end of any chances of a free Tibet.
What this book made me realize is how often the current crisis / news item fades when the next one comes up. I remember when Jammu and Kashmir was frequently in the news as a simmering issue, and his recent death reminded me of the crisis in Panama under Manuel Noriega. And of course the breakup of the former Yugoslavia which dominated the 90s. Just as they were gone to those not living there, soon will follow the current ones to be followed by new ones. Sometimes I wonder if true peace isn’t a geographical impossibility too.
Wonder what our future selves will have to say to us?
More detail: http://travellingcari.com/2017/06/10/review-prisoners-of-geography/
It’s a very readable look at the world and relatively contemporary: pre Trump election, but post Brexit vote. It also awakened the International Studies major and history lover in me but I highly recommend it to all readers.
The book is organized by region/country with a map as chapter intro and I think this might be one of those books that’s better in paper form — I frequently found myself flipping back to the map when I wondered where exactly a border point was. One of the quick themes that covers most sections is the mess that colonialization wrought on the world. While it’s the Middle East’s struggles most frequently in the news today, the same problems remain in southeast Asia, Africa and South America with relative differences in the amount of blood being shed. As was true when I read Jessica Alexander’s [b:Chasing Chaos: My Decade In and Out of Humanitarian Aid|17262365|Chasing Chaos My Decade In and Out of Humanitarian Aid|Jessica Alexander|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1380494197s/17262365.jpg|23859165], the African bloodshed resonates with me because the Rwandan genocide was a major news event when I was learning world history in high school. Marshall’s points about the artificial lines drawn there, DRC, Nigeria and throughout the continent make it clear why there will always be bloodshed. Like in Iraq, we as westerners can call them “Rwandans” or “Iraqis” but that doesn’t mean they’ll ever get along, or let borders keep them from members of their historical tribes, now “foreign”.
There’s only so much technology can surmount and that remains true when fighting wars, looking to expand or invade. One of the saddest cases of technology is of course Tibet and the railroad. In 1998, Paul Theroux remarked in Riding the Iron Rooster, “The Kunlun Range is a guarantee that the railway will never get to Lhasa.” Not even twenty years later, the railway was opened and trains come from Beijing and Shanghai four times each day. That, moreso than anything else, will likely mark the end of any chances of a free Tibet.
What this book made me realize is how often the current crisis / news item fades when the next one comes up. I remember when Jammu and Kashmir was frequently in the news as a simmering issue, and his recent death reminded me of the crisis in Panama under Manuel Noriega. And of course the breakup of the former Yugoslavia which dominated the 90s. Just as they were gone to those not living there, soon will follow the current ones to be followed by new ones. Sometimes I wonder if true peace isn’t a geographical impossibility too.
Wonder what our future selves will have to say to us?
More detail: http://travellingcari.com/2017/06/10/review-prisoners-of-geography/