A Brief History of the World in 47 Borders

Surprising Stories Behind the Lines on Our Maps

By: Jonn Elledge

Narrated by: Matthew Lloyd Davies

Length: 12 hrs

Publisher's summary

A fascinating and surprising history of the world told through the lines people have drawn on maps

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 human folly.

From the Roman attempts to define the boundaries of civilization, 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.

©2024 by Jonn Elledge. (P)2024 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

"A brilliant account of how these lines on a map shape lives, destinies, and economies. You’ll never look at a map in the same way again."—Stephen Bush, Financial Times columnist

"This is brilliant fun, explaining the modern world in enjoyably bite-sized chapters. It’s exactly the book you hope it will be."—Rob Hutton, author of The Illusionist

“Totally fascinating and hugely entertaining. This book is a nerd’s paradise without borders―but with jokes. Jonn Elledge has such a gift for looking at complicated bits of the world, then telling you all about them in a way that feels not like a textbook, but like an incredibly fun and interesting conversation in the pub."—Marina Hyde, author of What Just Happened?!