Description

‘Ian Morris has established himself as a leader in making big history interesting and understandable’ Jared Diamond, author of Guns, Germs and Steel

‘Morris succeeds triumphantly at cramming 10,000 years of history into a single book’ Robert Colvile, The Times

For hundreds of years, Britannia ruled the waves and an empire on which the sun never set – but for
thousands of years before that, Britain had been no more than a cluster of unimportant islands off Europe’s north-west shore.

Drawing on the latest archaeological and historical evidence, Ian Morris shows how much the meaning of Britain’s geography has changed in the 10,000 years since rising seas began separating the Isles
from the Continent, and how these changing meanings have determined Britons’ destinies.

From being merely Europe’s fractious, feuding periphery – divided by customs, language and landscape, and always at the mercy of more powerful continental neighbours – the British turned themselves into a United Kingdom and put it at the centre of global politics, commerce and culture.

But as power and wealth now shift from the West towards China, what fate awaits Britain in the twenty-first century?

Publisher Review

A 'big ideas' gallop ... Morris succeeds triumphantly at cramming 10,000 years of history into a single book -- Robert Colvile * The Times * Morris is a jaunty, accessible writer, especially strong on his home field of archaeology, and this is a book brimming with neat slogans and ideas -- Dan Jones * Sunday Times * Morris writes with great knowledge and wisdom and a certain panache ... I can't think of a better, more thought-provoking and generally wise introduction to the 'long' history of Britain's changing relations with continental Europe and the wider world than Geography is Destiny, or one that is such a terrific read -- Bernard Porter * Literary Review * Praise for Ian Morris: 'A great work of synthesis and argument, drawing together an awesome range of materials and authorities -- Andrew Marr A fresh perspective ... Ian Morris has established himself as a leader in making big history interesting and understandable -- Jared Diamond, author * Guns, Germs, and Steel * Clever, acute and counterintuitive ... a pleasure to read -- Dominic Sandbrook * Sunday Times * Brilliantly argued across a huge sweep, combining history with human geography, human and natural sciences. It is a magnificent and stimulating read, and should be given to anyone involved in the business of war and peace, or the human fate in any respect - and already a book of the year -- Robert Fox * Evening Standard * A provocative and extraordinary contribution to wide-screen comparative history ... a true banquet of ideas -- Boyd Tonkin * Independent * This is an astonishing book, full of controversy, brilliantly researched and thoughtfully argued ... one of the most fascinating and thought-provoking histories I've read in years * Daily Telegraph * One doffs one's hat to Morris's breadth, ambition and erudition * Sunday Times * An astonishing work -- David S. Landes, author * The Wealth and Poverty of Nations * An exuberant and wonderfully entertaining tour de force of history, archaeology, anthropology, geography, evolutionary biology and technological and military speculation... a terrific book -- David Crane * The Spectator * It is the book's elegantly succinct prose that will most captivate readers ... filled with lucid explanations of the most recondite questions, with many revealing quotations and witty asides -- Edward Luttwak * Prospect * Remarkable ... historian Morris argues not only that war is a source of technological advance but that it brings peace ... the thesis is disturbingly persuasive -- Martin Wolf * Financial Times * Gleefully provocative yet alarmingly persuasive... one of the most original history books in years * Mail on Sunday *