Author(s): James Crawford

Travel Literature

Blending history, travel and reportage, this is a wide-ranging journey through the history of borders and an examination of their role in shaping our world today.

In this book James Crawford argues that our enduring obsession with borders has brought us to a crisis point: that we are entering the endgame of a process that began thousands of years ago, when we first started dividing up the earth. Today, nationalism, climate change, globalisation, technology and mass migration are all colliding with ever-hardening borders. Something has to give.

At stake is the future of the world as we know it. Borders are the ultimate test - can we let go of the lines that separate us? Or are we fated to repeat the mistakes of the past, as our angry, warming and segregated planet lurches towards catastrophe?

Combining history, travel and reportage, The Edge of the Plain, takes us through the history of borders - from the first ever marker which denoted the edge of one land and the beginning of the next, to the walls going up around the world today.

It is a story told in four parts: Making, Moving, Crossing and Breaking. Each part explores a different aspect of the lifecycle and experience of borders all around the world and throughout history - how they are created, how they can change and evolve, how they are crossed or breached, and, finally, how they are overcome or broken.