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Robert D. Kaplan explores power and war in the Middle East. He shows how place and the past shape both. He ranges from the Mediterranean to China. He looks at Afghanistan and Kurdistan, too. His scope also takes in Central Asia and Ethiopia. He asks what democracy and human rights mean. Much of the world disputes the claims made for them.

The book blends history with the study of place and power. Kaplan writes for experts and general readers alike. He links wars of the 1900s to the places they took place. He asks what lies ahead for the region. He sets it in a world with several centres of power. He warns that leaders risk tragedy when they ignore the past. They must heed culture and place, too. He also draws links between Romania and the Middle East. He compares Bucharest’s Palace of Parliament with Erdoğan’s Çamlıca Mosque.

Kaplan draws on decades of travel and research. He draws on fifty years of talks with officials and thinkers. He has also talked with those who study and report history. His reading ranges from Herodotus to Gibbon and Toynbee. In the 1980s, he left America to work as a freelance reporter. He worked in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. His 1993 book, Balkan Ghosts, drew notice after a photo. The photo showed President Clinton holding the book. Iulian Comanescu provides the translation and notes for this edition.