Author(s): James Crawford

Politics | History | Travel

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.

Author Biography: James Crawford is an acclaimed historian, publisher and broadcaster. He is the author of Fallen Glory: The Lives and Deaths of the World's Greatest Lost Buildings, which was shortlisted for the Saltire Non-Fiction Book of the Year Award. In 2016 he was elected as Chair of the Board of Publishing Scotland, the network body for the publishing industry in Scotland; and in July 2019 he was appointed as the first ever Scottish ambassador for the UK Archive and Records Association's 'Explore Your Archives' campaign. He lives in Edinburgh.