The INTERNATIONAL AND SUNDAY TIMES bestseller; All leaders are constrained by geography. their choices are limited by mountains; rivers; seas and concrete. Yes; to understand world events you need to understand people; ideas and movements. . . but if you dont know geography; youll never have the full picture. ; To understand Putins actions; for example; it is essential to consider that; to be a world power; Russia must have a navy. And if its ports freeze for six months each year then it must have access to a warm water port - hence; the annexation of Crimea was the only option for Putin. To understand the Middle East; it is crucial to know that geography is the reason why countries have logically been shaped as they are - and this is why invented countries (e. g. Syria; Iraq; Libya) will not survive as nation states. ; Spread over ten chapters (covering Russia; China; the USA; Latin America; the Middle East; Africa; India and Pakistan; Europe; Japan and Korea; and Greenland and the Arctic); using maps; essays and occasionally the personal experiences of the widely travelled author; Prisoners of Geography looks at the past; present and future to offer an essential guide to one of the major determining factors in world history.