Prisoners of Geography

  The name may say it all; the book makes and supports a claim that seems common in geopolitical thought. However, the subtitle's claim is a bit of a stretch: can ten maps (even with insightful explanations) really explain all you need to know about global politics? Maybe a better subtitle might have been "Ten maps that will give you a firm foundation in global political realities," but obviously this more tempered claim would be less marketable. Actually, the subtitle for the Turkish edition would do as well for the English edition, "10 Maps that change the world's fate."

  Regardless of all that, Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall (2019) is an instructive and enjoyable read, so far. I've read the Introduction and the first map's explanation, Russia. A few quotes from this first 15% of the book seem worthwhile.

"So it is with all nations, big and small. The landscape imprisons their leaders, giving them fewer choices and less room to manoeuvre than you might think." (pg vii. British edition explains British spellings.) 

"Overall there is no one geographical factor that is more important than any other. Mountains are no more important than deserts, nor rivers than jungles. In different parts of the planet, different geographical features are among the dominant factors in determining what people can and cannot do." (pg viii)

 "By 2004, just fifteen years from 1989, every single former Warsaw Pact state bar Russia was in NATO or the European Union." (pg 7)

"Here was a man [Tsar Ivan the Terrible] to give support to the theory that individuals can change history." (pg 8)

"... Rule A, Lesson One, in 'Diplomacy for Beginners': when faced with what is considered an existential threat, a great power will use force." (pg 17-18)

    Hopefully this gives you a taste of the book; I may post more quotes along the way, but this seems like a book that could inform and enhance lots of conversations. I should mention that it's not 'a heavy read'; if you read the news regularly, you should have a sufficient basis of knowledge to read this book.