Prisoners of Geography

Tim Marshall paints with broad brush strokes the overwhelming influence of geography on nation building, trade, security and conflict in the international arena. Sometimes, he does overemphasize the geographical limitations and tends to underemphasize how geography works within feedback loops of culture and ethnicity- which results in a bleaker picture than is necessary of global conflict. However he should get credit for succinctly morphing a “intro to geopolitics 101” lecture into a handy book.