Myths of Geography: An Insightful Exploration of World Maps, Borders, and Civilizations―Debunking Long-Held Assumptions and Unraveling the True History of the World

Is geography really destiny?

Our maps may no longer be stalked by dragons and monsters, but our perceptions of the world are still shaped by geographic myths. Myths like Europe being the center of the world. Or that border walls are the solution to migration. Or that Russia is predestined to threaten its neighbors.

In his punchy and authoritative new book, Paul Richardson challenges recent popular accounts of geographical determinism and shows that how the world is represented often isn't how it really is—that the map is not the territory. Eight authoritative chapters puncture long-held assumptions:

• The Myth of the Continents and why they don't add up
• The Myth of the Border and why walls like Trump's don't work.
• The Myth of the Nation and fuzzy boundaries.
• The Myth of Sovereignty and Taking Back Control
• The Myth of Economic Growth and Why It's Not Worth Dying for
• The Myth of Russia's inevitable expansionism
• The Myth of China's New Silk Road
• The Myth of a doomed Africa

Along the way we visit some remarkable places: Iceland's Thingvellir National Park, where you can swim between two continents, and Bir Tawil in North Africa, one of the world's only territories not claimed by any country. We follow the first train that ran across Eurasia between Yiwu in east China and Barking in east London, and scale the US-Mexico border wall to find out why such fortifications don’t work.  

Written with verve and full of quotable facts, Myths of Geography is a book that will turn your world upside down.

Paul Richardson is Associate Professor in Human Geography at the University of Birmingham in the UK. He is an established scholar in the field of Geography and Russian Studies, and the former President of the Association for Borderland Studies. He has previously held academic positions at Hokkaido University in Japan and the Far Eastern Federal University in Russia. Myths of Geography is his first trade book.