A study of geography and the complex nature of power, from the fifteenth century to the twenty-first century.
"A must read for those involved in international relations, strategic studies, geography, political and economic history, as well as government and military leaders. It is a treasure trove of thought for academics, for scholars to debate and advance."―Military Review
History and geography delineate the operation of power, not only its range but also the capacity to plan and the ability to implement. Approaching state strategy and policy from the spatial angle, Jeremy Black argues that just as the perception of power is central to issues of power, so place, and its constraints and relationships, is partly a matter of perception, not merely map coordinates. Geopolitics, he maintains, is as much about ideas and perception as it is about the actual spatial dimensions of power. Black's study ranges widely, examining geography and the spatial nature of state power from the fifteenth century to the present day. He considers the rise of British power, geopolitics and the age of Imperialism, the Nazis and World War II, and the Cold War, and he looks at the key theorists of the latter twentieth century, including Henry Kissinger, Francis Fukuyama and Samuel P. Huntington, Philip Bobbitt, Niall Ferguson, and others.
"A germinal contribution to the study of geopolitics, international relations, and nation-state mechanisms for achieving predominance and hegemony in world affairs. . . . [It] is superlatively organized and written in eminently readable, clear, literary, and engaging prose. . . . Black has opened new frontiers of explanation and reference for future investigators." ―Peter Brown, Rhode Island College
