Description

8vo, hardcover in dj . 224pp. We are entering a new era of global cataclysm; a deadly mix of war, climate change, great-power rivalry, rapid technological advancement, and the end of empire. In Waste Land, renowned world affairs author Robert D. Kaplan explains incisively how we got here and where we are going. Kaplanís trademark sweep of history, literature, politics and philosophy draws parallels between todayís challenges and those of Germanyís interwar Weimar Republic. Today, too, every national disaster could spread across the world, given this centuryís singular dilemmas-pandemics, recessions; urbanisation, mass migration; destabilisation under large-scale democracy and great-power conflict; and the intimate bonds forged by digital media. Could stability and historic liberalism, rather than mass democracy per se, save world populations from anarchic breakdown? Waste Land is a bracing glimpse into a future defined by twenty-firstñcentury technology, but remarkably resonant with the past. The situation may be spiralling out of our control-unless our leaders act first.