The Age of Walls: How Barriers Between Nations Are Changing Our World (Politics of Place Book 3)

This book gives an excellent perspective on how mankind throughout history has built walls to keep foes, imagined or not, out of occupied territory. Surprise - our president is not the first.

This is a survey of the current state of wall building around the world, covering both physical andpsychological walls. And it generally does a good job. The two chapters on Israel and the Middle Eastare especially helpful in putting these complex situations into perspective. The Sunni/Shia split mayseem unfathomable to most of us, but as an apt comparison consider the Wars of the Reformationthat racked Europe for two centuries, using religious fervor as a cover for political ends. As a Brit, the author may be over-reacting to dysfunctional U.S. politics; for while at the nationallevel decision making is indeed crippled, daily life and business goes along largely unaffected.The huge omission is only a vague two-sentence mention of population. While the whole book ispremised on recent wall building to keep outsiders out, there is no recognition that much of themigration flow is directly related to rapidly increasing populations. In addition to all their otherproblems, the source countries are simply getting overcrowded and unable to support ever morepeople, leading to ever-more conflict, leading to migration flows, and the cycle continues.Population growth is greatest in Africa and the Middle East, the areas least able to support eventheir present populations. With Africa projected to DOUBLE in population by mid-century,the outlook is indeed grim.

The Age of walls is a riveting read. Every chapter focuses on divisions within peoples in a certain part of the world and a brief overview of geopolitical, religious or other underlying factors that play a role in the creation and continuation of physical and mental barriers. There is China (coastal areas vs. interior and the origins of the Great Wall), USA/Mexico border, India’s fractious relationship with Pakistan and Bangladesh, Israel - West Bank/Gaza, UK-Brexit, Europe/Germany-Berlin Wall. The information is current- as of 2018. If you want more details regarding any of these topics, you’d need to look elsewhere. It was perfect to quench my thirst for understanding the many geopolitic issues faced in many parts of the world today.

This is a good book. If you look for in-depth analysis, this is not it. But it does have good overview of politics and events and overall well balanced and thoughtful discussion.

A great listen! The contents of the books really open your eyes about the geopolitical issues facing countries that have, or have had, contreversial borders. I recommend this book to everyone.

Keen to acquire a copy of this early so that I could complete the reading of Marshall's trilogy regarding global politics, I ordered this with confidence. I was surprised to receive an American copy: the soft cover did not make reading easy. Also, I was continually tripped by the 'Americanism English'.But what a pleasure to be able to start this. Marshall's skill is in writing a book that does not overtly repeat earlier work from the Prisoners and Die For work; the reader could in this way read this as a stand alone work.As with the earlier two, this narrative begins lightly with the Great Wall of China, moving on to internet walls in place for that nation. Very tongue in cheek again, Marshall moves onto the Tortilla Curtain between Mexico and the US, skillfully moving the focus onto internal political issues within that nation that cause as much anxiety, if not more, than the southern border wall.So far, so good. Until the Middle East chapter. This was initially dealt with very sensitively with the Prisoners work but wow, are the truths spelled out here. To read into Shia and Sunni recent histories with the regality of one culture alongside the covertness of another, is revealing. For the first time, I understood what Jeremy Bowen and Orla Guerin were really talking about in their news reports.Do not feel you are going to have an easy time with the chapter on Africa. The extent of interruption of earlier cultural life on that continent are revealed, with the scale of disruption caused by colonialism only hinted at. But apart from delivering an infrastructure, the sense of 'what were we (Europeans per se) doing there?' becomes a natural question, followed by 'why did we do that?' to follow. Again, Marshall discreetly raises recent historic issues and balances discussion well, by including the rationale as to why so much funding is required, simply keep those new nations at peace with one another.The final chapters did not disappoint. Tongue in cheek again, this time detailing the Roman occupation of Britain, Marshall's European section complements James Hawes' work on this continent well, giving a more peaceable approach to its history. Nothing easier from Marshall here either. The recently shifted demographics of Ireland are used to illustrate how those in Great Britain (not as the British Isles) could evolve over the next few decades. Very sensitively, Marshall defines group heuristics within a natal population here too - and this was my greatest surprise. Until now, Marshall had not overtly declared his nationality, but his phrasing certainly became a matter of 'WE' within this chapter about Britain, and placed within an American edition, I was quite bowled over by this declaration. Cannily, Marshall includes narrative regarding broader European attitudes about EU membership.I had no idea that politics could be so engrossing, but the three books together provide some understanding about how we have arrived here in 2020.A magnificent read, I would recommend the trilogy as a whole, with this book being the pinnacle of the work. Nothing dried up within, a very well balanced and non-repetitive journey throughout.

A fine contribution to the record of toxicity of the times.