It is Oct-1998 and the Kosovo War is in full swing. I was really looking forward to the boots on the ground war reporting, but that was not really the case, and this was not really that kind of war. It was not like he could embed himself in a platoon of British soldiers on the ground as there were none. The cover, showing all Yugoslavia, suggests that the book will examine a lot more than just Kosovo- in practice it’s focused on the author’s experience in Kosovo, though he was also present in the Bosnian war. Even still, it’s focus is narrow; Marshall was based in Serbia proper for most of this time and so the book covers only this perspective, focusing more on NATO bombings of Serbia and discussing remarkably little about events in Kosovo. In fact individual Kosovo Albanians are only mentioned four times total in the entire book; if you’re looking to learn anything about Kosovo beyond the very basics you won’t find it here. Tim also draws from his insights into international relations to predict future affairs and crises, and his work increasingly comments on the intersection of technological advances with political developments. His upcoming book Space explores the geopolitics of space. He highlights that with sky satellites maintaining the world’s economy; space metals being worth more than most countries’ GDP; and people expected on Mars in the next decade, space will increasingly dominate military thinking. The leading superpowers of Russia, America, and China all have space commands and are developing warfighting capabilities for space. Marshall began his journalistic career reporting for LBC and was their Paris Bureau Correspondent for three years. He has also reported for the BBC and has written for a number of national newspapers. He was also the longstanding Foreign Affairs Editor and then Diplomatic Editor for Sky News.

Shadowplay: Behind the Lines and Under Fire: The Inside Story

Comparison to similar books: (4/5)
This book compares favorably to other historical accounts/quasi-memoirs from journalists. I’ve been disappointed by books written by other journalists due to their dry, then-this-then-that-then-this-then-that style writing. Stylistically, Marshall is a cut above his peers. I’d highly recommend it.This does create a sense of emotional distancing, as this book focuses on the politics rather than the people affected on the ground, and it therefore runs in a different vein of war correspondence and journalism to the likes of Marie Colvin. However, when read interspersed with Colvin's collected writings on Kosovo, I found my view of the conflict enhanced dramatically. Worth Dying For: The Power and Politics of Flags" listed at Elliott & Thompson Accessed 15 April 2017

Tim Marshall (journalist) - Wikipedia Tim Marshall (journalist) - Wikipedia

Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need To Know About Global Politics". Elliott & Thompson. Archived from the original on 25 October 2018 . Retrieved 7 August 2015.His other books include Worth Dying For – The Power & Politics Of Flags, Divided – Why We Are Living In An Age Of Walls, and The Power of Geography – Ten Maps That Reveal the Future of our World.

Shadowplay By Tim Marshall | Used | 9781783964451 | World of Shadowplay By Tim Marshall | Used | 9781783964451 | World of

He is esteemed for his unique capacity to contextualise current affairs. He has extensively analysed, for instance, how geography influences the ways states behave and interact with one another. In his writing on Russian foreign policy, for example, he discusses how the flatland between the Baltic Sea and Carpathian Mountains – modern-day Poland – has for centuries made Russia vulnerable to invasion from Western armies. This has fuelled a historical view amongst Russian leaders of Belarus and Ukraine as buffer zones between Western forces and Moscow, and we can see this view rearing its head in the recent invasion of Ukraine. Into 1999 and the war escalates and NATO begin bombing the Serbs to bring an end to the war. There are some horrific stories of collateral damage and mistakes from the NATO side with civilians being killed and maimed. He takes us through the war in three parts. ‘Before’, ‘During’ and ‘After’. The ‘After’ being a detailed account of how Milošević is toppled. ‘Revolution!’. Twenty years on from the war's end, with the rise of Russian power, a weakened NATO and stalled EU expansion, this story is more relevant than ever, as questions remain about the possibility of conflict on European soil. Utterly compelling, this is Tim Marshall at his very best: behind the lines, under fire and full of the insight that has made him one of Britain's foremost writers on geopolitics.

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He has written for many of the national newspapers including the Times, the Guardian, the Daily Telegraph, and the Sunday Times. Nicholas Lezard (13 August 2015). "Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need to Know About Global Politics by Tim Marshall - review". Evening Standard. Style & engagement: (4/5)
Marshall has a casual writing style that I thoroughly enjoyed, although it seemed callous at moments, especially when writing about the devastating losses experienced in the war. However, with that casual writing style came a matter-of-fact, unvarnished description of the events and politics that shaped this conflict. Often histories written by journalists have such a stuffy air to them that they get extremely dry, and Marshall breaks that pattern with this book. I ultimately found his style engaging and interesting—even useful. Writing style is definitely a plus of this book. During over twenty-four years at Sky News, Marshall reported from thirty countries and covered the events of twelve wars. He has reported from Europe, the United States, (covering three US Presidential Elections), and Asia, as well as from the field in Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia during the Balkan wars of the 1990s. He spent the majority of the 1999 Kosovo crisis in Belgrade, where he was one of the few western journalists who stayed on to report from one of the main targets of NATO bombing raids. He was in Kosovo on the day NATO troops advanced into Pristina. Twenty years on from the war's end, with the rise of Russian power, a weakened NATO and stalled EU expansion, this story is more relevant than ever, as questions remain about the possibility of conflict on European soil. Utterly gripping, this is Tim Marshall at his very best: behind the lines, under fire and full of the insight that has made him one of Britain's foremost writers on geopolitics.

Shadowplay: The Inside Story of the Overthrow of Slobodan Shadowplay: The Inside Story of the Overthrow of Slobodan

One of his most notable moments on Sky News involved a six-hour unbroken broadcast during the first Gulf War. He was the last journalist to interview Pakistan's Benazhir Bhutto ahead of her return from exile and subsequent assassination.

Tim Marshall is reported to be a supporter of Leeds United - on Politics Live on 22 February 2022, a Leeds United logo was visible. In his book Shadowplay: The Inside Story of Europe's Last War, Marshall says that he was supporting Bayern Munich in the 1999 UEFA Champions League final against Manchester United because he was a Leeds United supporter. The author, Tim Marshall, was a reporter for Sky News. He tells us that this book was first published in 2002 but in Serbo-Croat but now it has been translated.