Prisoners of Geography explains how the location of a country dramatically affects its economy, and how the lay of a country's land can have an impact on its wars, trade, and alliances.

If you've ever played the popular board game Risk, you know the geography of whatever continent you own has a lot to do with whether or not you can keep other players from invading it.

While Risk is just a board game, this idea extends into the real world.

The geographic features and resources of the land you live in actually have a lot to do with the strength of the economy but also how well your country has fared in wars.

Leaders' choices are often limited by mountains, oceans, rivers, and concrete. Sadly, these leaders and their people often become prisoners of their geography.

Tim Marshall is a journalist, author, and broadcaster who specializes in diplomacy and foreign affairs.

In Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need To Know About Global Politics, he highlights this aspect of world politics through the perspective of a geographer.

Marshall uses examples from ten different crucial regions to explain that the world's balance of power has everything to do with something as simple as the lay of the land.