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Chokepoints: 3 Straits & A Ditch That Shaped Our World
Not yet published
Expected 15 Jun 26What if the most important forces in history aren't the generals, the ideologues, or the statesmen — but the narrow passages of water they're all fighting to control?
In 3 Straits and a Ditch That Shaped Our World, Norm Coady traces four strategic passages — the Turkish Straits, Gibraltar, the Suez Canal, and the Strait of Hormuz — and argues that whoever controls these doors controls history. Not the other way around.
The evidence is everywhere once you know where to look. The closure of the Dardanelles in 1914 didn't just bottle up Russia — it set the stage for Lenin, and sent shockwaves that reached the Oklahoma plains two decades later. A nine-hour meeting at a French train station in 1940 kept a Spanish dictator in power for thirty more years. A canal closure in 1967 contributed to the conditions that produced punk rock. And the Strait of Hormuz today is as consequential as any of them.
Coady brings these stories to life the way he discovered them — through a classroom. The students' questions, their resistance, and their moments of genuine discovery pace the narrative throughout, turning dense geopolitical history into something that feels like the best conversation you've ever had about why the world works the way it does.
The result is popular history that is rigorous, funny, and genuinely a book that changes how you read the news, understand the past, and look at a map.
The board is set. We are all playing the game it dictates.
In 3 Straits and a Ditch That Shaped Our World, Norm Coady traces four strategic passages — the Turkish Straits, Gibraltar, the Suez Canal, and the Strait of Hormuz — and argues that whoever controls these doors controls history. Not the other way around.
The evidence is everywhere once you know where to look. The closure of the Dardanelles in 1914 didn't just bottle up Russia — it set the stage for Lenin, and sent shockwaves that reached the Oklahoma plains two decades later. A nine-hour meeting at a French train station in 1940 kept a Spanish dictator in power for thirty more years. A canal closure in 1967 contributed to the conditions that produced punk rock. And the Strait of Hormuz today is as consequential as any of them.
Coady brings these stories to life the way he discovered them — through a classroom. The students' questions, their resistance, and their moments of genuine discovery pace the narrative throughout, turning dense geopolitical history into something that feels like the best conversation you've ever had about why the world works the way it does.
The result is popular history that is rigorous, funny, and genuinely a book that changes how you read the news, understand the past, and look at a map.
The board is set. We are all playing the game it dictates.
Kindle Edition
Expected publication June 15, 2026
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