Rights of Passage:

From the fourteenth century to the twenty-first, the passport has been one of the essential means of identification—and control—of peoples in the international system. Despite predictions that it would soon become an anachronism, it continues to be a central feature of international relations. Mark Salter’s narrative of the history of the passport adds a vital perspective to the understanding of world politics.

Rights of Passage explores shifting notions of sovereignty, citizenship, and identity, as well as changing concerns with issues of race, class, gender, and nation. Ranging from such topics as health, war, and migration to the current mood of vigilant surveillance, the book sheds new light on the role of borders in the age of globalization.