This book is a must read for all Geography teachers, and a definite starting point when investigating the development gap. Prisoners Of Geography explains how the location of a country dramatically affects its success and the amount of power it has in the world. GCSE syllabuses, such as AQA, include the Unit ‘The Changing Economic World’, and this book is an excellent accompaniment when teaching this. Examples include the Ural Mountains in Russia, which made it difficult for Europe to trade with Asia, and how the impracticality of Africa's rivers as useful trade routes has made both trade and contact between the continent's different regions very limited. This has, in turn, significantly hindered economic development. I refer to this book regularly in my teaching, and any more able student would see huge benefits from reading it. So much of this book can be incorporated into lessons at any level. There is also an accompanying book with the maps in colour which is more suitable for younger students. 

A fascinating insight into Africa as the world’s poorest continent in terms of wealth, but the richest in terms of natural resources. The book uses many detailed case studies to engage students and illustrate to them the levels of corruption taking place, as well as giving the victims a voice. These include oil of the Niger Delta, and the coltan mines of the DRC. Burgis brings a new approach to the global economy and focuses far less on the exploitation from Africa’s original colonial powers, and far more on the newly emerging economies, such as China, that gain from unequal power relations.  Examples in this book provide students with some shocking truths that relate to their own resource use. It brings into question our use of mobile phones (due to the corruption and violence in coltan mining), and our reliance on cars (after reading of oil spills in the Niger Delta).     

This book takes a deeper historical approach to examining the development gap and ends with the newly emerging economies jostling to become superpowers and threatening the West’s dominance. More contemporary analysis includes the industrial revolution, ICT, access to energy and nuclear weapons. The theme running through the book is social development and how it is accelerated or hindered, and focuses tightly on the reasons for the development gap. The later stages of the book would complement A Level teaching on Superpower Geographies with the rise of India and China, and the historical focus of the book supports any teaching on why the West has always enjoyed an advantage. The book is very readable and would suit more able students wishing to investigate further.      

Climate change makes inequality worse, and it could become the main cause for a development gap in the future. This clip explores this reality.