Review by 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
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by 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.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book 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.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
