The Revenge of Geography

What the Map Tells Us About Coming Conflicts and the Battle Against Fate

By: Robert D. Kaplan

Narrated by: Michael Prichard

Length: 13 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

In The Revenge of Geography, Robert D. Kaplan builds on the insights, discoveries, and theories of great geographers and geopolitical thinkers of the near and distant past to look back at critical pivots in history and then to look forward at the evolving global scene. Kaplan traces the history of the world's hot spots by examining their climates, topographies, and proximities to other embattled lands. The Russian steppe's pitiless climate and limited vegetation bred hard and cruel men bent on destruction, for example, while Nazi geopoliticians distorted geopolitics entirely, calculating that space on the globe used by the British Empire and the Soviet Union could be swallowed by a greater German homeland.

Kaplan then applies the lessons learned to the present crises in Europe, Russia, China, the Indian subcontinent, Turkey, Iran, and the Arab Middle East. The result is a holistic interpretation of the next cycle of conflict throughout Eurasia. Remarkably, the future can be understood in the context of temperature, land allotment, and other physical certainties: China, able to feed only twenty-three percent of its people from land that is only seven percent arable, has sought energy, minerals, and metals from such brutal regimes as Burma, Iran, and Zimbabwe, putting it in moral conflict with the United States. Afghanistan's porous borders will keep it the principal invasion route into India, and a vital rear base for Pakistan, India's main enemy. Iran will exploit the advantage of being the only country that straddles both energy-producing areas of the Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea. Finally, Kaplan posits that the United States might rue engaging in far-flung conflicts with Iraq and Afghanistan rather than tending to its direct neighbor Mexico, which is on the verge of becoming a semifailed state due to drug cartel carnage.

A brilliant rebuttal to thinkers who suggest that globalism will trump geography, this indispensable work shows how timeless truths and natural facts can help prevent this century's looming cataclysms.

©2012 Robert D. Kaplan (P)2012 Tantor

Critic reviews

"A solid work of acuity and breadth." ( Kirkus)

Geopolitics for the 21st Century

Understanding the whys behind our actions, whether you agree with them or not, is important.

Complete View

Complete view on why Geography helps or hurts any nation in terms of National Defense, and the lessons that history provides.

Slow to pick up

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I can only think of a very select few who'd be interested in this material.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Revenge of Geography?

Learning modern military national strategy

What aspect of Michael Prichard’s performance would you have changed?

It could have been more lively

Any additional comments?

I think another review I read on this book nailed it. The book was slow to pick up, the first half was pretty boring and read like a dry text book, but after that it got more interesting.

Learning about why Russia, Turkey, China and some other nations did X, or what some of China's actions say about it, or the importance of Mexico was really interesting. Long detailed summaries of academics was... dry..

Eye Opening

I loved this audio book. The content, the performance and the overall feel of the book was eye opening and made me appreciate the slow, inexorable push of geography on History.

Great Book.

Heard about the book from radio host Buck Sexton. It's a wonderfully informative book mixing the historical and political aspects of the planet. I would recommend this book to anyone one who's curious about the development of different countries and societies.

Not bad but a bit aged

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Impact

I do not believe that any single book, as a constellation of data points, has ever affected my perception so immediately and with such a potential for long lasting ideological impact.

A little dry, but lots of good information

A lot of dry material, and a dry narrator to match. delivered in rapid succession.

Every strategist & black male should read this...

Usually the scholarship work of Robert D. Kaplan is carefully presented. However, I found portions of "The Revenge of Geography" misleading, inaccurate, and pure opinion.

If you want to get ahead...read this BOOK!!! Herein, you will find MUST read tons of information with historical data, case studies and the whats, whys, whens, and wheres, behind many of history wins and near wins. No other book or writer of military history comes close to being this unbelievably instructive, informative, insightful, deliberate, in providing a self help manual, with directions, questions and riveting answers on how to succeed in life, love, business and conquest.

Must read

This book is ground breaking in the world of geopolitics. Kaplan, has extensively researched experts past and present to formulate his conclusion. This book is a must read for anyone studying political science or international relations. Arguably, can also lend to sociologists and human resource practitioners.