A History of the World in 47 Borders: The Stories Behind the Lines on Our Maps - Hardcover

Elledge, Jonn

 
9781472298508: A History of the World in 47 Borders: The Stories Behind the Lines on Our Maps

Synopsis

'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.

More praise for 47 BORDERS:
'Fascinating and hugely entertaining' MARINA HYDE
'You'll never look at a map the same way again' STEPHEN BUSH
'[A] clever, confounding history' PATRICK MAGUIRE
'A witty grand tour' DORIAN LYNSKEY
'Warm, funny and sharply political' PHIL TINLINE

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author

Jonn Elledge is a New Statesman and New World columnist, a regular on the podcasts Oh God, What Now? and the late, lamented Paper Cuts, and a frequent contributor to the Big Issue, the Guardian and assorted other publications. He was previously an assistant editor at the New Statesman, where he created and ran its urbanism-focused CityMetric site, spending six happy years writing about cities, maps and borders and hosting the Skylines podcast. He has written three books, as well as over 200 editions of the Newsletter of (Not Quite) Everything. He lives in London, with the best dog in the world.

From the Back Cover

Praise for The Compendium of (Not Quite) Everything

'Jonn Elledge is a charming and outstandingly nerdish guide. A big, generous, fascinating book' Robert Webb

'I love Jonn Elledge's brain'
Marina Hyde

'Joyous, mind-expanding, laugh-out-loud funny, and full of nerdy gusto.
Ian Dunt

'Consistently both entertaining and fascinating'
Ahir Shah

From the Inside Flap

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.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9781472298546: A History of the World in 47 Borders: The Sunday Times #1 Bestseller

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  1472298543 ISBN 13:  9781472298546
Publisher: Wildfire, 2025
Softcover