I hear John Elledge a lot on podcasts, so when his new book came out I was immediately interested. I saw it in a bookstore, almost bought it, and then realised that I have more than enough books at home. (Un)fortunately, Amazon were selling it cheap and I caved.

The good news is that “A History of the World in 47 Borders”¹ is an entertaining read. No regrets.

It’s well researched, and full of interesting tidbits, and connecting historical events in logical ways. What stood out for me, though, was the writing. It’s informal, and you get his voice and personality in practically every sentence. Here are a few.

About Korea:

until the entertainingly named Wang Kén managed to unify the lot

Switzerland:

Switzerland, though: what the hell?

Australia:

Instead, their history begins with (this’ll shock you) the British

As a general point, if you’re the kind of person who wants to see more Saint George Cross flags everywhere, you might not be happy with, well, our history. Can’t really blame Elledge for that.

And in the conclusion:

The idea of a world without borders, where people are as free to move as money, is an attractive one, but the last person who seemed to think he had a plan to create it was John Lennon, and look what happened to him.

If you’re looking for a serious, academic read, this is not it. And that’s no bad thing.

Coincidentally, while I was reading this book, I also listened to a 99 Percent Invisible podcast about borders.