A riveting and timely account of Romania past and present, of a decades-long obsession with one country, and of the fate of Europe in the age of Vladimir Putin from the bestselling author of Balkan Ghosts.
Robert Kaplan first visited Romania in the 1970s, when he was a young journalist and the country was a bleak Communist backwater. What ensued was a lifelong fascination with a critical, often-overlooked country.
This is a vivid blend of memoir, travelogue, journalism, and history. Kaplan illuminates the history and culture of Romania while also telling a personal story about his own intellectual development.
And it's a bigger story about Europe- geography, imperialism, the question of fate in international relations, the Cold War, the Holocaust, and more.
Kaplan began this book well before Russia sparked a new Cold War with its aggression in Ukraine. Romania is a metaphor for Europe's current challenge in confronting Putin, and this is the book you must read to truly understand the crisis with Russia.
Author Biography
ROBERT D. KAPLAN is the author of 16 books on foreign affairs and travel translated into many languages, including The Revenge of Geography- What the Map Tells Us about Coming Conflicts and the Battle Against Fate, Monsoon- The Indian Ocean and the Future of American Power; Balkan Ghosts- A Journey Through History; and Warrior Politics- Why Leadership Demands a Pagan Ethos. He has been a foreign correspondent for The Atlantic for over three decades. In 2011, Foreign Policy magazine named Kaplan among the world's "100 Top Global Thinkers." In 2014, he joined the Center for New American Security as a senior fellow. He previously served as chief geopolitical analyst at Stratfor. From 2009 to 2011, he served under Secretary of Defense Robert Gates as a member of the Defense Policy Board. From 2006 to 2008, he was the Class of 1960 Distinguished Visiting Professor in National Security at the U. S. Naval Academy, Annapolis.
