This book surveys the development of geo-political thought in the twentieth century and relates it to international political developments, as well as examining how sound geopolitical theories are. It considers the work of Mackinder, Hartshorne, and Haushofer and his disciples in Germany who influenced the Nazis; and of more recent developments including Marxist geographical writing.

1. Introduction 2. The Roots of Twentieth-century Geopolitical Thought 3. Halford Mackinder and the World Outlook 4. Global Views After Mackinder's Pivot Theory 5. German Geopolitik and its Antecedents 6. L'Esprit Vidalienne versus Geopolitik: French Geopolitical Thought before World War II 7. Brave New Geopolitics: The development of Geopolitical Thought in North America 8. Heartland Revisited: New Perspectives after World War II 9. A World Fragmented: Geopolitics in the 1960s and 1970s 10. The Emperor's New Clothes: Radical Alternatives in Contemporary Thought 11. Not Glass but Diamond: A Concluding Assessment