"[An] elegantly layered exploration of Europe's past and future . .
. a multifaceted masterpiece."--The Wall Street Journal
"A lovely, personal journey around the Adriatic, in which Robert Kaplan
revisits places and peoples he first encountered decades ago."--Peter
Frankopan, author of The Silk Roads
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New Yorker
In this insightful travelogue, Robert D. Kaplan, geopolitical expert and
bestselling author of Balkan Ghosts and The Revenge of Geography,
turns his perceptive eye to a region that for centuries has been a
meeting point of cultures, trade, and ideas. He undertakes a journey
around the Adriatic Sea, through Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro,
Albania, and Greece, to reveal that far more is happening in the region
than most news stories let on. Often overlooked, the Adriatic is in fact
at the center of the most significant challenges of our time, including
the rise of populist politics, the refugee crisis, and battles over the
control of energy resources. And it is once again becoming a global
trading hub that will determine Europe's relationship with the rest of
the world as China and Russia compete for dominance in its ports.
Kaplan explores how the region has changed over his three decades of
observing it as a journalist. He finds that to understand both the
historical and contemporary Adriatic is to gain a window on the future
of Europe as a whole, and he unearths a stark truth: The era of populism
is an epiphenomenon--a symptom of the age of nationalism coming to an
end. Instead, the continent is returning to alignments of the early
modern era as distinctions between East and West meet and break down
within the Adriatic countries and ultimately throughout Europe.
With a brilliant cross-pollination of history, literature, art,
architecture, and current events, in Adriatic, Kaplan demonstrates
that this unique region that exists at the intersection of civilizations
holds revelatory truths for the future of global affairs.
