Geography can be enthralling, especially when it is shown as a vital factor in shaping the history of a place and its inhabitants.Professor East offers precious little enthusiasm to either history or geography in this dry, pedantic and limited tract. Instead, he writes defensively as though he expects readers to be historians looking to shoot holes in the theory that "place" helps to shape "events." By the time he has defended the idea, I was bored (with his use of "palimpsest" among other things) rather than sold.Hurrying to Chapter 2 to get beyond his podium, I found him mired in the details of England's mapping...an unlikely springboard into the wonders of the "geography behind history."Sorry, but by the time this book approaches a spark of excitement, it felt more like an electric charge to restart my cardium.Read this at your own risk, if you need an item for a bibliography, or as a sleep aid.