Admittedly, reading the first few pages of this book left me with the lowest of hopes...Yet Morris is a better, and subtler, historian than that. Despite its title, Geography Is Destiny is not so much about geography as geostrategy — he argues that the history of the British Isles was, for most of its duration, about how we dealt with what was coming at us from Europe, whether it was ideologies, conquerors, technologies or traders.

Morris succeeds in condensing 10,000 years into a persuasive and highly readable volume, even if there are moments that risk a descent into what he seeks to avoid: 'a catalogue of men with strange names killing each other', as historian Alex Woolf put it.

Morris is a master of the sweep of history. His narrative is always accessible, if a little reckless. It does not really help to compare William the Conqueror to Hitler, or Britain in 1216 to Greece in 2010. Even Morris’s granting primacy to geography sometimes falls victim to politics. His view of Brexit – that 'leave meant leave' – ignores the option of Britain’s remaining part of Europe’s single market. It is geography that will one day assert the necessity of Britain rejoining that market..

As Morris’s previous books have shown, he is a writer who likes the big picture, and treats history as a practical discipline, best used to assess the present and project the future. He is a jaunty, accessible writer, especially strong on his home field of archaeology, and this is a book brimming with neat slogans and ideas. However, his obsession with Brexit makes the book feel curiously dated. And as is often the case in works of Big History, grand unifying theses are more often thought-provoking than true. Nevertheless, this is an Island Story fit for a 21st century in which geography really does matter..

To many readers, all of this will seem both obvious and somewhat reductive. For all its density of detail and flourish of erudition, the book falls short of its promise to make a truly original case that Britain’s geography has been its destiny—any more than geography has been Japan’s, to name another proud island-nation..

Morris provides a very comprehensive history of Britain while keeping readers engaged. It is a skill to cover such a vast timeline and still keep a reader wanting more. A satisfying read for both readers new to British history those looking for a new take..

... sparkling.