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 endorsements 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

In the press:
‘[A] sprightly telling’ New Statesman
‘Open and inviting’ History Today
‘Wonderfully nerdy – and at times shocking’ Byline Times
‘A diverting and informative read’ theartsdesk.com

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

Bizarre, brilliant and filled with the unexpected, The Compendium covers the breadth and depth of human experience, weaving its way through words and numbers, science and the arts, the spiritual and the secular. It’s a feast of facts for a hungry mind.

Includes entries on the cosmos, the human planet (and the lines we draw on it), questions of measurement, history and politics, the natural world, leisure and many ‘oddities’ that don’t fit elsewhere…