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A useful and enjoyable book. It is a good aide memoire for those who are reasonably well read in history and current affairs or an easily accessible starter for those who are new to the areas.

I learned some new things, notably on South America and within each section. I felt the geography was under done and could have been explored further but I assume for space and target audience this is the right spot. Mr Marshall writes much of the historic aspects on the formation, rivalries and areas of each focus area (these divided into chapters) and the brings us up to date (my version was a 2019 reissue). Naturally then it does not included Covid, Russia's invasion of Ukraine and other events such as the spat between Australia and China in late 2018, Biden's election, Bolivia's (re)election of Morales, the AUKUS deal, the Taliban in Afghanistan and the growth of cyber attacks and how that has impacted civil infrastructure as let alone elections in some areas.

China looms large in the book now having interests in all parts of the world notably with its Belt and Road initiative and of course territorial claims on Taiwan. There were some other interesting countries who have claims on islands or areas, which I was unaware of. Technology also plays a part in the book but again I felt the Suez and Panama canals were not discussed enough in the context of trade and power projection, much like aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines and jet aircraft; likewise tourism and how this impacted nations incomes and indeed cultures and changes to national character; here again how has geography affected trade and for example global branding - Nike, Coca Cola, Apple, McDonalds and Tesla for example.

I felt religion and culture could have played more a part in the overall narrative, notably radical Islam. This is debated in the Africa and Middle East chapters but could be more detailed especially in Asia and Europe.

The maps were sufficient but in my paperback were black and white. I imagine the hardback version would be blessed with colour.

Overall a solid three stars.