The Age of Walls, Tim Marshall
The Age of Walls, Tim Marshall
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The Age of Walls
How Barriers Between Nations Are Changing Our World

Author: Tim Marshall

Narrator: Nigel Patterson

Unabridged: 7 hr 36 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/09/2018


Synopsis

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.

The Age of Walls 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.

About Tim Marshall

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

Goodreads review by Ivan on July 09, 2018

I found the book somewhat shallow, especially compared to Prisoners of Geography. The book already feels dated, because it's full of examples over the last 2 years. The analysis is often missing, or is just way too obvious. The goal of spinning various political issues through the prism of "walls" o......more

Goodreads review by Brian on January 12, 2025

I really liked this. Marshall examines the shifting boundaries between societies around the world, including the rather fortified India–Bangladesh border, the U.S.–Mexico border, the overly porous boundaries between European states, the extremely militarized Israel–Palestine boundaries, China’s inte......more

Goodreads review by Romcsa on December 13, 2018

This was very painful to finish. The book tries to cover major world conflict zones in just 280 pages, resulting in rather shallow descriptions, none of the problems are covered in detail. If you read newspapers or watch news on a regular basis, then I don't recommend buying this book, it's a waste......more

Goodreads review by Atila on July 17, 2019

Tim Marshal é um autor que explora muito bem a geografia e a geopolítica. Li este livro por conta do Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need to Know About Global Politics e não me arrependi. É um passeio por vários países e continentes contando como a mudança política rece......more

Goodreads review by Nguyet on March 08, 2022

Sau “Những tù nhân của địa lý”, một lần nữa ta gặp lại Tim Marshall trong “Chia rẽ”. Vẫn là vấn đề chính trị và địa chính trị nhưng trong cuốn sách này, then chốt cho những con bài chính trị lẫn xã hội nằm ở những đường biên giới trải dài từ vài đến hàng ngàn dặm khắp mọi lãnh thổ trên thế giới. Bên......more