Part of the nonfiction Orca Timeline series, with photographs and illustrations throughout, this book explores why and how people have built walls all over the world throughout the course of human history. Build them up. Break them down.
Building walls that separate us from others is as old as humanity.
People have built walls to keep others out for thousands of years, from the Great Wall of China to Hadrian's Wall to security fences along the US-Mexico border. But did you know they've also been built to keep people in, to grow food, to control nature and to collect taxes? Sometimes they've helped people and kept communities safe, but they've also created inequity and done more harm than good. Why do we have walls at all?
Walls: the Long History of Human Barriers and Why We Build Them explores the many reasons humanity has put up walls over the course of our history, and why we continue building them today.
Key Selling Points
• An in-depth look at walls around the world throughout human history, up to the present day and into the future.
• From the US-Mexico border wall to the Israeli West Bank barrier and the Hungarian border wall, controversial and divisive walls are being built around the world today.
• This book will challenge young readers to think critically about why humans have built walls throughout history, who is affected, and the positive and negative consequences of building walls, for people and places.
• Deals with themes of war and peace (ancient and modern), the climate crisis, human migration, racism, nationalism, protectionism, ecosystems and food insecurity.
• The author is an award-winning journalist with CBC Radio in Victoria, British Columbia, and the author of books for both children and adults.
It's about time! From the past to the present and into the future, the Orca Timeline series explores how big ideas have shaped humanity. Discover what our collective history can tell us about the planet today and tomorrow.
Gregor Craigie is a radio journalist and writer. He has worked for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for many years. Before that he worked in several cities, including London, England, where he was an announcer for the BBC World Service and a reporter for CBS Radio. Gregor's first book for adults, On Borrowed Time: North America's Next Big Quake, was a finalist for the Writers' Trust Balsillie Prize for Public Policy and the City of Victoria Butler Book Prize. His first book for children was Why Humans Build Up: The Rise of Temples, Towers and Skyscrapers, part of the Orca Timeline series. He lives in Victoria, British Columbia.
Arden Taylor is a Toronto-based freelance illustrator. A graduate of Sheridan College with an honors bachelor of illustration, she enjoys digitally creating colorful illustrations of architecture and people and designs for wallpaper and other projects. Her clients include Hazlitt Magazine and the California Institute of Technology, and her work has been featured in various magazines, newspapers, advertising campaigns and websites.
