Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need to Know About Global Politics

Tim Marshall, 2015

Why does Russia keep pushing west, and why does China want a navy? Ten maps show how mountains, rivers and seas still limit what leaders can do.

12 parts, about 23 minutes to read.

Why read it

Explains world politics through mountains, plains, rivers and ports, such as Russia's flat western approach and search for a warm water port
Moves region by region from Russia and China to Africa and the Middle East, showing how landscape and borders limit leaders' choices
Looks at newer pressures: melting Arctic ice, contested seas, and rivers and dams that could cause water conflicts

Gideon RachmanChief foreign affairs commentator, Financial Times
Sharp insights into the way geography shapes the choices of world leaders.
Nicholas LezardEnglish journalist and literary critic
Quite simply, one of the best books about geopolitics you could imagine.

Tim MarshallBritish journalist and author, former diplomatic editor at Sky News
- A foreign affairs journalist with more than thirty years of reporting experience.
- Diplomatic editor at Sky News, after working for the BBC and LBC/IRN radio.
- Has reported from forty countries and covered conflicts in Croatia, Bosnia, Macedonia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Israel.
- Born on 1 May 1959.
- Educated at Prince Henry's Grammar School in Otley, near Leeds.
- Spent twenty four years at Sky News, reporting from thirty countries and covering twelve wars.
- Spent most of the 1999 Kosovo crisis in Belgrade, one of the few Western journalists who stayed to report from a main target of NATO bombing.
- Founded and edits the news website thewhatandthewhy.com, launched in February 2015.