The Return of Marco Polo's World: War, Strategy, and American

The Return of Marco Polo's World: War, Strategy, and American Interests in the Twenty-first Century

A bracing assessment of U.S. foreign policy and world disorder over the past two decades, anchored by a major new Pentagon-commissioned essayâ€”from the renowned geopolitical analyst and bestselling author of The Revenge of Geography and The Coming Anarchy.

â€œElegant and humane . . . [a] prophecy from an observer with a depressingly accurate record of predictions.â€â€”Bret Stephens,Â The New York Times Book Review

In the late thirteenth century, Marco Polo began a decades-long trek from Venice to China. The strength of that Silk Roadâ€”the trade route between Europe and Asiaâ€”was a foundation of Kublai Khanâ€™s sprawling empire. Now, in the early twenty-first century, the Chinese regime has proposed a land-and-maritime Silk Road that duplicates exactly the route Marco Polo traveled.

In the major lead essay, recently released by the Pentagonâ€™s Office of Net Assessment, Robert D. Kaplan lays out a blueprint of the worldâ€™s changing power politics that recalls the late thirteenth century. As Europe fractures from changes in culture and migration, Eurasia coheres into a single conflict system. China is constructing a land bridge to Europe. Iran and India are trying to link the oil fields of Central Asia to the Indian Ocean. Americaâ€™s ability to influence the power balance in Eurasia is declining.

This is Kaplanâ€™s first collection of essays since his classic The Coming Anarchy was published in 2000. Drawing on decades of firsthand experience as a foreign correspondent and military embed for The Atlantic, as well as encounters with preeminent realist thinkers, Kaplan outlines the timeless principles that should shape Americaâ€™s role in a turbulent world: a respect for the limits of Western-style democracy; a delineation between American interests and American values; an awareness of the psychological toll of warfare; a projection of power via a strong navy; and more.

From Kaplanâ€™s immediate thoughts on President Trump (â€œOn Foreign Policy, Donald Trump Is No Realist,â€ 2016) to a frank examination of what will happen in the event of war with North Korea (â€œWhen North Korea Falls,â€ 2006), The Return of Marco Poloâ€™s World is a vigorous and honest reckoning with the difficult choices the United States will face in the years ahead.

â€œThese essays constitute a truly pathbreaking, brilliant synthesis and analysis of geographic, political, technological, and economic trends with far-reaching consequences. The Return of Marco Poloâ€™s World is another work by Robert D. Kaplan that will be regarded as a classic.â€â€”General David Petraeus (U.S. Army, Ret.)
Country USA
Manufacturer Random House
Binding Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate 2018-03-06
Format Kindle eBook

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Random House
Binding	Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate	2018-03-06
Format	Kindle eBook

The Return of Marco Polo's World: War, Strategy, and American Interests in the Twenty-first Century

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