Published: 14 Mar 2026
A History of the World in 47 Borders: The Stories Behind the Lines on Our Maps
- Release date: 2024
- Genre: Nonfiction, History
- Themes/Moods: Fast-paced, Informative, Funny, Lighthearted
- Rating: 3.5/5
A book comprised of little, bitesized vignettes around various borders of the world, both historical and modern. Learns much more towards the pop history/geography side rather any exhaustive/rigorous historical work (although the author makes it well aware of his own flaws) and covers a lot of the popular “unique borders” of the world (e.g. Baarle-Nassau/Baarle-Hertog, Bir Tawil, China’s Nine Dash Line) but also covers some less-known ones (e.g. Sudan-Uganda, the “Google Maps” war), and there’s plenty of humour dashed around (both in the main text and in footnotes) to cover for some of the weaknesses of the book - namely some repetition (turns out, humanity has been extremely good at not learning from history), the difficulty in setting the scene for more historical borders without glossing over large sections, and ironically the lack of maps in some parts. It won’t change your life, but it is a breezy little page-turner for anyone with a passing interest in history.
