The age of walls : how barriers between nations are changing our world

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Title:

The age of walls : how barriers between nations are changing our world

Author:

Marshall, Tim, 1959- author.

ISBN:

9781501183904

Edition:

1st Scribner hardcover ed.

Physical Description:

ix, 276 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm.

Series:

Politics of place ;

General Note:

Originally published in Great Britain in 2018 by Elliott and Thompson Limited.

Contents:

China -- USA -- Israel and Palestine -- The Middle East -- The Indian subcontinent -- Africa -- Europe -- UK.

Subject Term:

Boundaries.

World politics -- 21st century.

Nationalism.

Identity politics.

Isolationism.

Division (Philosophy).

Summary:

Walls are going up. Nationalism and identity politics are on the rise once more. Tens of thousands of miles of fences and barriers have been erected in the past decade, and they are redefining our political landscape. There are many reasons why we erect walls: we are divided by wealth, race, religion, and politics. In Europe the ruptures of the past decade threaten not only European unity but, in some countries, liberal democracy itself. In China, the Party's need to contain the divisions wrought by capitalism will define the nation's future. In the United States the rationale for the Mexican border wall taps into the fear that the US will no longer be a white majority country in the course of this century. Covering China, America, Israel and Palestine, the Middle East, the Indian Subcontinent, Africa, Europe, and the UK, bestselling author Tim Marshall presents a timely and unflinching analysis of the fault lines that will shape our world for years to come. --

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Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Hardwood Creek Library (Forest Lake)	320.9 MAR	Searching... Unknown
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury)	320.9 MAR	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Wildwood Library (Mahtomedi)	320.9 MAR	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

Tim Marshall, the New York Times bestselling author of Prisoners of Geography , analyzes the most urgent and tenacious topics in global politics and international relations by examining the borders, walls, and boundaries that divide countries and their populations.

The globe has always been a world of walls, from the Great Wall of China to Hadrian's Wall to the Berlin Wall. But a new age of isolationism and economic nationalism is upon us, visible not just in Trump's obsession with building a wall on the Mexico border or in Britain's Brexit vote but in many other places as well. China has the great Firewall, holding back Western culture. Europe's countries are walling themselves against immigrants, terrorism, and currency issues. South Africa has heavily gated communities, and massive walls or fences separate people in the Middle East, Korea, Sudan, India, and other places around the world.

In fact, at least sixty-five countries, more than a third of the world's nation-states, have barriers along their borders. There are many reasons why walls go up, because we are divided in many ways: wealth, race, religion, and politics, to name a few. Understanding what is behind these divisions is essential to understanding much of what's going on in the world today.

As with Marshall's first two books, The Age of Walls is a brisk read, divided by geographic region. He provides an engaging context that is often missing from political discussion and draws on his real life experiences as a reporter from hotspots around the globe. He examines how walls (which Marshall calls "monuments to the failure of politics"), borders, and barriers have been shaping our political landscape for hundreds of years, and especially since 2001, and how they figure in the diplomatic relations and geo-political events of today.

Author Notes

Tim Marshall is a leading authority on foreign affairs with more than thirty years of reporting experience. He was diplomatic editor at Sky News and before that worked for the BBC and LBC/IRN radio. He has reported from forty countries and covered conflicts in Croatia, Bosnia, Macedonia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Israel. He is the author of Prisoners of Geography , The Age of Walls , A Flag Worth Dying For , The Power of Geography , and The Future of Geography .

Reviews (3)

Kirkus Review

Former Sky News diplomatic editor Marshall (A Flag Worth Dying For: The Power and Politics of National Symbols, 2017, etc.) looks at the human penchant for us-and-them division.Walls: We either want them torn down or put up. In the author's vigorous look across centuries and continents, walls can be real or metaphorical, "shorthand for barriers, fences, and divisions in all their variety." One of the most divisive of these walls is the one that separates the Gaza Strip from Israel in a region that, Marshall writes, is in turn so beset by further subdivisions that coming to any political agreement seems to be a remote possibility at best. Marshall connects the Great Wall of China to another kind of dividing impulse, namely the Chinese hukou system, whereby, for thousands of years, people have been registered by birthplace and, in its most recent application, are eligible for social security and other benefits only in those places, so that a worker who moves to Shanghai for better wages loses medical coverage outside his or her home province. The call by Donald Trump for a new wall along the U.S.-Mexico border is an inevitable topic for a book of this kind, and Marshall obliges with a smart examination of how it is unlikely to succeed even if it were to be built in the face of "politics, budget, state law, federal law, nature, and international treaties." Even though walls tend not to be very effective at keeping undesired peopleor ideasout, they continue to go up, and sometimes in unexpected places. The author points out the 300-mile-long wall that Botswana put up along the border with Zimbabwe ostensibly to contain hoof-and-mouth disease, "but unless Zimbabwean cows can do the high jump, it's difficult to see why this wall needs to be so high."Marshall is a skilled explainer of the world as it is, and geography buffs will be pleased by his latest. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

*Starred Review* Marshall (Prisoners of Geography, 2016) returns with an incisive, meticulous survey of humanity's physical barriers, the factors that lead to their construction, and the hope for building bridges across them. Around the world, nationalism is on the rise and with it the erection or bolstering of walls, evidence of misunderstanding, intolerance, even hatred. Each of the eight chapters spotlights a different geographical region. In China, the Great Wall represents an iconic ancient culture, but today's digital wall divides the country's citizens from the rest of the world. In the U.S., Marshall explores walls actual and metaphorical, how their presence is intended not only to physically prevent people from entering but also to protect ideologies. The formidable conflict between Israel and Palestine reminds us that although barriers seek to simplify the divide between us and them, reality is much more complex. Drawing on his 25 years of experience reporting global foreign affairs, Marshall presents concise overviews that allow readers to quickly grasp geographical ruptures and draw universal comparisons. Marshall reminds us that we fear the unknown; crave safety, health, and opportunity; and that where there is inequality, there are walls. This enlightening, shrewd assessment of the walls that separate us proves that there is actually far more that unites us.--Katharine Uhrich Copyright 2018 Booklist

Library Journal Review

Marshall (Prisoners of Geography) brings forward an intriguing look at border walls and their impact on the land and people around them. Besides examining walls among countries, the author uses the term as "shorthand for barriers, fences, and divisions in all their variety." Included are structures in China, Israel, Palestine, India, the United States, the UK, among other areas. Marshall looks at the history of the area that led to the creation of the wall, its effects today, and where the future might lead. In these examinations, he reveals a depth of knowledge of the region involved, along with its residents and the issues they face. In conclusion, Marshall shares his vision for the future if issues relating to immigration and walls are not addressed effectively. VERDICT A provocative and well-written look at current issues in the political landscape. For general readers interested in geopolitics as well as undergraduate programs in border studies and world politics. [See Prepub Alert, 4/30/18.]-John Sandstrom, New Mexico State Univ. Lib., Las Cruces © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Introduction	p. 1
1 China	p. 9
2 USA	p. 37
3 Israel and Palestine	p. 69
4 The Middle East	p. 97
5 The Indian Subcontinent	p. 121
6 Africa	p. 153
7 Europe	p. 181
8 UK	p. 217
Conclusion	p. 247
Acknowledgments	p. 257
Bibliography	p. 259
Index	p. 265

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Summary

Summary

Author Notes

Reviews (3)

Kirkus Review

Booklist Review

Library Journal Review

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