Sand, iron, salt, oil, copper and lithium. The struggle for these tiny, magical materials has razed empires, demolished civilizations, fed our greed and our ingenuity for thousands of years. But the story is not over. Our modern world would not exist without them, and the hidden battle to control then will shape our future. See the history of human civilization from a new perspective ... For fans of Tim Marshall, Lewis Dartnell, Jared Diamond and Yuval Harari.