A History of the World in 47 Borders cover art

A History of the World in 47 Borders

The Stories Behind the Lines on Our Maps

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A History of the World in 47 Borders

By: Jonn Elledge
Narrated by: Jonn Elledge
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About this listen

'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.

©2024 Jonn Elledge (P)2024 Headline Publishing Group Ltd Earth Sciences Human Geography Science Social Sciences World Imperialism Funny Witty War Ottoman Empire Middle Ages Latin American Africa

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All stars
Most relevant  
It's a breezy fascinating look at the world thru a powerful lens, works perfectly as thought provoking conversation. The quick chapters make for nice bite sized chunks to digest

Pithy and informative

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Fabulous to listen to, really interesting and thought provoking. I did have to slow the author down as he speaks very fast and my brain couldn’t keep up.

Excellent

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Engrossed from the beginning, a great delivery by a passionate writer and delivered with a good dose of humour.

A fascinating journey across the borders of the world and time.

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a very informative and enjoyable listen breaks things down into manageable chunks. please do more!

thoroughly entertaining

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I laughed a lot while listening to this, and so will you if you enjoy the sight of puffed up, red-faced politicians, dictators and generals thumping the table while pointing at a map. Slightly sobering to remember how many people die as a result of the table-thumping.

Entertaining and informative book about a ridiculous subject

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Really interesting and lots of fascinating details. Lots of history, geography & geopolitics. Definitely recommended.

Absolutely Fascinating!

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occasionally amusing, thought provoking and very enjoyable ramble through the daftness of things that we don't often think about.

thoroughly enjoyable and thought provoking

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Really interesting content, well researched and written. But the huffing and puffing of the author’s reading style makes this almost unlistenable on headphones or in the car. Strongly makes the argument for hiring professional voice performers.

Great content, distracting reading

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Interesting subject delivered with a deft touch and the understated charm of John's voice. Pertinent observations that ring true with the developments since the book was complete.

A great listen

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I absolutely loved it however it was a bit distracting that the narrator was continuously out of breath. it's always adds alot to have the author read their book however this time it may have been better to have a pro as it was a little distracting from an otherwise fantastic book

great book very interesting

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