Book Review // “Divided” by Tim Marshall

Of all the walls we know, the ones between Israel and Palestine and Mexico and the US are probably the ones mostly covered by the international media. But did you know that more than a third of the world’s nation-states have barriers along their borders? The country of Bangladesh, for example, is fully surrounded by walls and ocean.

The book “Divided – Why we are living in age of walls” by Tim Marshall is an exceptional book, if you want to learn more about history, politics, geography, economics and social change in an easy and accessible way.

The Book

The book is divided into several chapters, each covering a different country or region: There is the Great Wall of China and today we also talk about the Great Firewall of China. The wall between Mexico and the United Stated is probably the most famous wall that doesn’t really exist. The Indian subcontinent has various walls, the one between India and Bangladesh being the longest border fence in the world (4000km). In Africa, the Moroccan Wall stretches for about 2700km through Western Sahara and parts of Morocco (as one example). On this continent, the problem lies in the way these nation-states were formed. It causes many conflicts between nations and tribes. In Europe, the Berlin Wall is historically one of the most famous and formative walls. But today, we also see walls in Spain, Norway, Greece, Hungary and Bulgaria. In the UK, you still find pieces of the famous Hadrianswall. And in Northern Ireland you will still find walls between the catholic and protestant neighbourhoods.

The Author

Tim Marshall is a leading authority on foreign affairs with more than 30 years of reporting experience. He was diplomatic editor at Sky News, and before that was working for the BBC and LBC/IRN radio. He has reported from 40 countries and covered conflicts in Croatia, Bosnia, Macedonia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Israel.

Tim Marshall wrote several books, another one that I could recommend is “Prisoners of Geography” which I will present in one of the upcoming book reviews. Have you read one of Tim Marshall’s book already?

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