A compelling, stark, critically important book that conveys the urgency of the present moment and the unprecedented challenges that face mankind . . . Once again, Robert D. Kaplan has brilliantly distilled an exceedingly complex set of issues that have to be resolved. And once again he has impressively consulted history to provide prescriptions to help us navigate the ongoing conflicts, security dilemmas, great power rivalries, health crises, environmental issues, and other looming difficulties. Waste Land solidifies Kaplan’s reputation as one of the truly masterful observers and thinkers of our time!”—General David Petraeus, US Army (Ret), former Commander of the Surge in Iraq, US Central Command, and Coalition Forces in Afghanistan, and former Director of the CIA
“One of the great geopolitical thinkers of our time has produced yet another compelling, scholarly, and eminently readable book of thoughtful global analysis. Weaving together everything from the gorgeous poetry of T. S. Eliot to the neo-realistic thinking of Jeane Kirkpatrick to the tragic history of the Weimar Republic, Robert D. Kaplan provides a dark mirror held to a dangerous world that commands our attention page after page. . . . A cautionary tale of absolute brilliance!”—Admiral James Stavridis, USN (Ret), 16th Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, 12th Dean of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, and author of Sea Power: The History and Geopolitics of the World’s Oceans
“Robert D. Kaplan is one of the most sophisticated and incisive geopolitical analysts of today’s world. His latest work is typically elegant, grounded in a vast range of philosophy, travel, and literature. The book is a tribute to the role that history can play in illuminating a path for policymakers in an ever more uncertain and chaotic world.”—John Bew, Professor in History and Foreign Policy at King’s College London, and author of Clement Attlee: The Man Who Made Modern Britain
An urgent exploration of a world in constant crisis, where every regional disaster threatens to become a global conflict, with lessons from history that can stop the spiral-from the New York Times bestselling author of The Revenge of Geography
We are entering a new era of global cataclysm in which the world faces a deadly mix of war, climate change, great power rivalry, rapid technological advancement, the end of both monarchy and empire, and countless other dangers. In Waste Land, Robert D. Kaplan, geopolitical expert and author of more than twenty books on world affairs, incisively explains how we got here and where we are going. Kaplan makes a novel argument that the current geopolitical landscape must be considered alongside contemporary social phenomena such as urbanization and digital news media, grounding his ideas in foundational modern works of philosophy, politics, and literature, including the poem from which the title is borrowed, and celebrating a canon of tradistionally conservative thinkers, including Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Jeane Kirkpatrick, and many others.
As in many of his books, Kaplan looks to history and literature to inform the present, drawing particular comparisons between today's challenges and the Weimar Republic, the post-World War I democratic German government that fell to Nazism in the 1930s. Just as in Weimar, which faced myriad crises inextricably bound up with global systems, the singular dilemmas of the twenty-first century-pandemic disease, recession, mass migration, the destabilizing effects of large-scale democracy and great power conflicts, and the intimate bonds created by technology-mean that every disaster in one country has the potential to become a global crisis, too. According to Kaplan, the solutions lie in prioritizing order in governing systems, arguing that stability and historic liberalism rather than mass democracy per se will save global populations from an anarchic future.
Waste Land is a bracing glimpse into a future defined by the connections afforded by technology but with remarkable parallels to the past. Just as it did in Weimar, Kaplan fears the situation may be spiraling out of our control-unless our leaders act first.
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We are entering a new era of global cataclysm in which the world faces a deadly mix of war, climate change, great power rivalry, rapid technological advancement, the end of both monarchy and empire, and countless other dangers. In Waste Land, Robert D. Kaplan, geopolitical expert and author of more than twenty books on world affairs, incisively explains how we got here and where we are going. Kaplan makes a novel argument that the current geopolitical landscape must be considered alongside contemporary social phenomena such as urbanization and digital news media, grounding his ideas in foundational modern works of philosophy, politics, and literature, including the poem from which the title is borrowed, and celebrating a canon of tradistionally conservative thinkers, including Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Jeane Kirkpatrick, and many others.
As in many of his books, Kaplan looks to history and literature to inform the present, drawing particular comparisons between today's challenges and the Weimar Republic, the post-World War I democratic German government that fell to Nazism in the 1930s. Just as in Weimar, which faced myriad crises inextricably bound up with global systems, the singular dilemmas of the twenty-first century-pandemic disease, recession, mass migration, the destabilizing effects of large-scale democracy and great power conflicts, and the intimate bonds created by technology-mean that every disaster in one country has the potential to become a global crisis, too. According to Kaplan, the solutions lie in prioritizing order in governing systems, arguing that stability and historic liberalism rather than mass democracy per se will save global populations from an anarchic future.
Waste Land is a bracing glimpse into a future defined by the connections afforded by technology but with remarkable parallels to the past. Just as it did in Weimar, Kaplan fears the situation may be spiraling out of our control-unless our leaders act first.
Waste Land: A World in Permanent Crisis
An urgent exploration of a world in constant crisis, where every regional disaster threatens to become a global conflict, with lessons from history that can stop the spiral-from the New York Times bestselling author of The Revenge of Geography
We are entering a new era of global cataclysm in which the world faces a deadly mix of war, climate change, great power rivalry, rapid technological advancement, the end of both monarchy and empire, and countless other dangers. In Waste Land, Robert D. Kaplan, geopolitical expert and author of more than twenty books on world affairs, incisively explains how we got here and where we are going. Kaplan makes a novel argument that the current geopolitical landscape must be considered alongside contemporary social phenomena such as urbanization and digital news media, grounding his ideas in foundational modern works of philosophy, politics, and literature, including the poem from which the title is borrowed, and celebrating a canon of tradistionally conservative thinkers, including Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Jeane Kirkpatrick, and many others.
As in many of his books, Kaplan looks to history and literature to inform the present, drawing particular comparisons between today's challenges and the Weimar Republic, the post-World War I democratic German government that fell to Nazism in the 1930s. Just as in Weimar, which faced myriad crises inextricably bound up with global systems, the singular dilemmas of the twenty-first century-pandemic disease, recession, mass migration, the destabilizing effects of large-scale democracy and great power conflicts, and the intimate bonds created by technology-mean that every disaster in one country has the potential to become a global crisis, too. According to Kaplan, the solutions lie in prioritizing order in governing systems, arguing that stability and historic liberalism rather than mass democracy per se will save global populations from an anarchic future.
Waste Land is a bracing glimpse into a future defined by the connections afforded by technology but with remarkable parallels to the past. Just as it did in Weimar, Kaplan fears the situation may be spiraling out of our control-unless our leaders act first.
We are entering a new era of global cataclysm in which the world faces a deadly mix of war, climate change, great power rivalry, rapid technological advancement, the end of both monarchy and empire, and countless other dangers. In Waste Land, Robert D. Kaplan, geopolitical expert and author of more than twenty books on world affairs, incisively explains how we got here and where we are going. Kaplan makes a novel argument that the current geopolitical landscape must be considered alongside contemporary social phenomena such as urbanization and digital news media, grounding his ideas in foundational modern works of philosophy, politics, and literature, including the poem from which the title is borrowed, and celebrating a canon of tradistionally conservative thinkers, including Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Jeane Kirkpatrick, and many others.
As in many of his books, Kaplan looks to history and literature to inform the present, drawing particular comparisons between today's challenges and the Weimar Republic, the post-World War I democratic German government that fell to Nazism in the 1930s. Just as in Weimar, which faced myriad crises inextricably bound up with global systems, the singular dilemmas of the twenty-first century-pandemic disease, recession, mass migration, the destabilizing effects of large-scale democracy and great power conflicts, and the intimate bonds created by technology-mean that every disaster in one country has the potential to become a global crisis, too. According to Kaplan, the solutions lie in prioritizing order in governing systems, arguing that stability and historic liberalism rather than mass democracy per se will save global populations from an anarchic future.
Waste Land is a bracing glimpse into a future defined by the connections afforded by technology but with remarkable parallels to the past. Just as it did in Weimar, Kaplan fears the situation may be spiraling out of our control-unless our leaders act first.
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Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940192088036 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Penguin Random House |
| Publication date: | 01/28/2025 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
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