Rating: 
Summary: The Master of Political and Historical Insights
Review: I have read several of Kaplan's books and he continues his winning streak in this one. Unlike many travel writers who merely offer westernized descriptions of people and scenery in places that are already well known, Kaplan covers areas that most of us in the western world are unfamiliar with. Interesting places in this book include Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan. He also focuses on history and politics, and has remarkable insights into the possible futures of the regions he visits, and how the past influences the present and future to a much greater extent than in the West. Some key insights offered by Kaplan here include the notion that Europe is currently splitting into regions that are eerily similar to the Ottoman and Holy Roman empires of ancient times, with the collapse of communism and the weakening of NATO. Kaplan also predicts that the next Yugoslavia-style bloodbath, which will drag in the rest of the world, will occur in the Caucasus region (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan). Tellingly, Chechnya is not too far away. Kaplan knows what he's talking about, as he predicted the Yugoslavia disaster back in the late 1980's. And throughout the book Kaplan proves that the collapse of communism and the rise of so-called democracy is only a good thing at a high level of international politics. But for millions and millions of regular people, life has become far more dangerous and miserable.Since the portion of this book covering Romania and Bulgaria is meant as a sequel to Kaplan's earlier "Balkan Ghosts," and since some of the other areas covered are also featured in "The Ends of the Earth," this book is slightly weaker than those two masterpieces. Kaplan also occasionally stumbles into cultural arrogance when dealing with non-Western people and politics. However, these are slight weaknesses in a very strong book that offers highly enlightening insights into the history and peoples in areas that Americans should stop ignoring.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Book
Review: I just finished reading this excellent book. Kaplan has a talent for writing tavelogues with the right mixture of history, culture, politics, and analysis. He has a natural writing style and an ability to encapsulate the major themes in each country that he visits. I've already placed an order for several other Kaplan books.
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Summary: A Mysterious Land . . . A Terrific Book
Review: I’ve been eagerly reading Kaplan’s sociopolitical musings in the pages of “The Atlantic Monthly†for the last three years. Kaplan, a self-described “classical realistâ€, blends his impressive knowledge of history with a cold, dispassionate eye when looking at the world. While Kaplan has written about the United States and Mexico (I highly recommend his excellent “An Empire Wildernessâ€), his typical focus is on the East rather than the West. In “Eastward to Tartaryâ€, Kaplan seeks to write about the Near East: the Balkans, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, the Caucasus, and finally Central Asia, an area the Victorian British called “Tartaryâ€. (The book was published in 2000, but I believe that Kaplan wrote much of it in the Fall of 1998 and then in the Spring of 1999.) Kaplan has long been critical of the post-Cold War consensus that believed that the world was getting smaller and smaller and safer and safer thanks to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the spread of globalization. To Kaplan, ethnic and religious rivalries are being exacerbated by globalization and are making the world a far more dangerous place. Indeed, ethnic rivalries and religion defeated Marxism, and (may) prove to have a more staying power than capitalism. “Eastward†contains some proof to buttress these arguments, as Kaplan travels to countries and interacts with the local citizenry, many of whom are angry and xenophobic, some of whom have simply given up hope of a better life. Stability, Kaplan shows, is typically not met by economic liberalization and western investment. One astute example Kaplan presents is the failure of Orthodox churches, which were not bulwarks of the democratic opposition to communism like the Catholic Churches in Poland and Hungary, to bring stability. Without the root of belief that the Catholic Churches bring (encouraging people to see God in themselves, as opposed to Orthodoxy seeing God in the church and nowhere else), these Eastern Christian states have largely stagnated and declined. It is a fascinating little example likely ignored by Western observers. All of this is mostly new information to Americans because we (mostly) live in a postmodern society that embraces cosmopolitan/international values over ethnicity and religion. Kaplan feels that because the media is a thoroughly cosmopolitan class- worldly and affluent â€"they largely ignore these trends. I think he has a point. “Eastward to Tartary†performs the valuable lesson of educating Americans about these forces at work in the two regions of the world that are going to occupy American attention for the next decade and beyond: Central Asia and the Middle East. Most Americans don’t have any sort of notion of the types of ethnic and religious forces that swirl in Syria or Romania or Azerbaijan. Kaplan’s chapter on Syria and Lebanon are well worth the price of the book alone. When the media starts talking about Syria today they present the country as a unified Muslim state full of tyranny that supports terrorism. In other words, Syria is the basic equivalent of Iraq. However, Syria is fascinatingly different, thanks to the multitude of ethnic rivalries that engulf the nation. Before I read this book I had never really even heard of the Alawiites, the ethnic group to which the ruling elite and many members of the Army’s officer corps belongs. Their success and control of the Syrian army is important and astutely understood by Kaplan. The development of the city of Beirut in Lebanon is also a vastly under-reported development. A prosperous state like Lebanon, with a growing middle class, could have huge implications for the Middle East. Who would have known about these things? The media doesn’t bother to tell us. Thank goodness Kaplan does. Another example of unknown information is Kaplan’s sojourn through the Balkans. Little is known about Europe’s “Third Worldâ€, but its importance looms large, as Kaplan shows because of the imminent admission of Bulgaria and Romania to NATO and the EU. These states will form an important part of the new world: providing the U.S. and NATO forward bases to the Middle East (I would note that- though it was ignored by the media â€"Romania provided the U.S. valuable support in the Second Gulf War), and moving Europe eastward. The stark differences between Hungary and Romania are interesting to consider because one has to wonder if absorbing these nations will harm the EU economically and politically. Kaplan astutely points out that the EU is far more important an entity than NATO because the EU deals with regulations, taxes and laws, whereas NATO is rapidly becoming an irrelevant entity. Readers of The Atlantic Monthly can see portions of articles Kaplan had written for the Atlantic about Israel, Bulgaria, Romania and the Caucasus reappear, but there is *plenty* of new material and Kaplan provides it with uncanny insight. Those who read travel books expecting pleasant stories about artistic and cultural journeys will be disappointed because there is little pleasant about the places Kaplan goes to, and Kaplan’s writing bent is clearly geo-political rather than social. He observes these nations not as a college-age back-backer, but as a quasi-insider: his books are read in particular by the military, to whom he often lectures. Typically Kaplan is assessing the stability of this part of the world and considers the prospects for investment by western corporations and possible western military intervention. Those who enjoy his work will not be disappointed. Kaplan’s writing style is journalistic, with an eye towards classical history. To Kaplan it is here in the East, more than anyplace else, where the past holds the key to the future. Still, Kaplan appreciates the physical surroundings and gives his reader a vivid description of the world he sees: the hot and dusty deserts of Turkmenistan, the green Mountains of Georgia, and the dark forests of Romania. All-in-all, reading this book is a worthwhile trip.
Rating: 
Summary: The Sequel to "Balkan Ghosts"
Review: In this book of travels, Robert Kaplan picks up where he left off. Kaplan, whose "Balkan Ghosts" became the point of departure for those State Department and other US government officials requiring a quick education about the complexities and entrenchment of the Balkan mind in the days leading up to the NATO confrontations with Serbia (including Bill Clinton, who is rumored to have delayed action in Yugoslavia in part because of Kaplan's insights), travels to the Balkans, Turkey, the Middle East, and then on to the Trans-Caucuses (known as "Tartary" to the Elizabethans). Like Kaplan's other travel books, this is more than a traveler's book of anecdotes; this is a book of history and lost histories and life on big historical divides. Especially relevant is his section on Armenia, a nation with its own (lowercase) diaspora and rich history. More generally, this book provides a workable education on the state of the Trans-Caucuses region, which is among the least understood regions on the planet - no small matter, since, with Russia's increased importance in the energy markets, this is a tract that stands to gain hugely in relative world importance.
Rating:
Summary: In depth insight into the far reaches.
Review: Kaplan does an exceedingly superb job at conveying the nature of the world beyond the West. This work provides the reader with the political and cultural layout of the land from central Europe east to the far shores of the Caspian. What is even far more pleasing to the reader is Kaplan's gripping description of these lands and the myriads of problems facing them. Eastward to Tartary will keep you excited and will fill you with a wish to travel these places of mystery and awe, where history collides every so violently with the modern world.
Rating:
Summary: Must Read
Review: Kaplan goes where few Westerners dare to go. It is not just that these countries, such as Syria and Turkmenistan, are rarely visited. Kaplan goes to places within these countries where there are no 4-star hotels--indeed nothing that would earn so much as one star in an American guidebook. He describes the poverty, the military checkpoints, the mafia-like behavior of governments, etc. He shows how the vast oil reserves near the Caspian Sea are making the region important, even as the rule of law remains elusive. As an economist, I consider this a must-read book, if for no other reason than to see the devastation that was wrought by the breakup of the Soviet Union. Having read hundreds of pages written by Ph.D's on privatization and "transition economics," all from an Ivory Tower perspective, I find that Kaplan's on-the-ground reporting provides a much-needed reality check. Anyone who tries to offer advice on "peace processes" or "economic development" needs to factor in the way things really work on the ground. By visiting the countries themselves, dealing directly with thuggish police and border patrols, and seeing how everyday people really function in these countries, Kaplan provides valuable data. In addition to the valuable substance, the quality of writing is very high. Kaplan's descriptions are vivid, and his observations are often under-stated and even humorous. If you have not read this book, then you should.
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Summary: The Art of the Long View
Review: Let me start by saying that Robert Kaplan stole my idea. Never mind that he published his book just as I began my drive from Yerevan, Armenia, to Almaty, Kazakhstan and back. Never mind that he traveled from Budapest, Hungary to Merv, Turkmenistan from 1998-99, fully a year before my own trek. The fact is that I was going to write a book just like Eastward to Tartary, and Kaplan beat me to it. Fortunately for the publishing world, Kaplan did a better job than I could have done.
Kaplan's premise is that the old divides between Western and Eastern Europe, or more precisely between the West and the Ottoman Empire, still exist and that these will have a major impact on global affairs in the next decade or so. He calls the region of the Balkans, the Middle East, and the Caucasus the "New Near East" and says that it may well be the "seismograph of world politics" in the 21st century. By this he means the region is likely to make the headlines early this century, and it is to crises in this region that the West must be prepared to respond. Interestingly, Kaplan leaves out of his travelogue the former Yugoslavia, Iran, and Iraq, stating that he has already written about these countries in previous publications.
Kaplan is a journalist for the Atlantic Monthly. I was not surprised to see how well connected he was nor how insightful he was. I was, however, surprised to see how well he mastered his history. The purpose of his travels was to determine the effect of history and how a country's past will shape its future. The future of a country is not a blank slate, Kaplan argues. History, geography, and culture place limits on what is possible. True leaders push those limits, he says, but Kaplan met few true leaders during his voyage. He saw much that gave him hope, but he also saw much that caused him to despair. The farther east he traveled, the greater the terrible effects of the breakup of the Soviet Union and, indeed, of the Ottoman Empire. Throughout Kaplan's journey, one question plagued him: should we intervene? He offers no answers, but notes that the West intervened in Kosovo largely because of how close the Balkans are to Western Europe. Following this logic, he concludes, there is no real interest, aside from oil and gas supplies, that would encourage the West to intervene if, say, Georgia imploded. One feels that the Georgians and everyone else Kaplan meets understand this grim reality but accept it only reluctantly. "We are European!" they all cry. Kaplan himself is a bit obsessed with trying to determine where Europe or the West ends and Asia or the East begins.
Now almost five years old, Eastward to Tartary is less timely than at the beginning of the century. In this recently post-9/11 world, it is hard to believe that Turkmenistan or Armenia would hijack American foreign policy more than radical Islam or Iraq has. Kaplan's argument that a NATO border that ends at Hungary and does not include Romania is both an echo of the pre-WWI balance of power and a precursor to rifts in the 21st century are now irrelevant with Romania joining NATO. At the same time, his warnings that the economic wastelands of some of these countries are fomenting Islamic fundamentalism are prescient.
In his acknowledgements, the author thanks a young diplomat who helped Kaplan in Turkmenistan. The same diplomat helped me on my journey through that part of the world. Hey, maybe I can convince Random House to finance a sequel. How does "Central Asian Stories" sound? No? It's one thing to travel and have the ideas; it's quite another to publish a compelling travelogue. Kaplan has done this, and he has earned my respect.
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Summary: Kaplan as the new Marco Polo
Review: One of the sad shortcomings of American society is that it has produced generations of illiterates when it comes to an understanding of the complexity of the world. When given a choice between watching some "reality" show versus reading about significant world events that can affect our lives, millions will chose who gets voted off the island versus understanding why Sept 11, 2001 happened. Kaplan digs deep into the real world, but would never reach the recognition rate of a tart who became famous for her disappearing cigar trick and became a "star" on her own "reality" show.
What sets Kaplan apart from many of his fellow journalists is his hard work and sacrifice to get the story, enduring a lot of hardship to get to the real world as we never see it, and seldom read about. And his story is about the future of mankind instead of tabloid titillation which dominates the news, but is really the toilet paper of history.
As someone who has traveled in many of the countries where Kaplan has developed his stories, I find his insightful observations and conversations with the real folk to put into perspective the superficial observations I have made, or read about from journalists who get the story from the comfort of their hotel rooms without ever getting their fingernails dirty. Even worse, his fellow journalists show up with their story already written and go home as soon as it is "verified" by talking to some propagandist, functionary, or peasant who fits their purposes.
This is another very good book about the real world, including the vast disparity in the development of areas and peoples whose ancestors were the subjects of Marco Polo's travelogue.
Americans can be very naive about the world, which is not surprising given the pitifully politically correct versions of history taught in all levels of schools today, but Kaplan has been there and experienced the world, with all its warts, and does a great job of putting it all into perspective. Like Polo's second excursion to Cathay, he went north and met the descendents of the same people who live in a world far closer to Polo's than the one we know today, seven hundred years later.
While some of the events and people are changed from the book, it is a great book to understand the complexity of the forces dictating world events today in a very dangerous part of the world, the breeding grounds of the next phase of world conflict.
Rating:
Summary: The Sequel to "Balkan Ghosts"
Review: Robert Kaplan picks up where he left off in this book of travels. Kaplan, whose "Balkan Ghosts" became the point of departure for those State Department and other US government officials requiring a quick education about the complexities and entrenchment of the Balkan mind in the days leading up to the NATO confrontations with Serbia (including Bill Clinton, who is rumored to have delayed action in Yugoslavia in part because of Kaplan's insights), travels to the Balkans, Turkey, the Middle East, and then on to the Trans-Caucuses (known as "Tartary" to the Elizabethans). Like Kaplan's other travel books, this is more than a traveler's book of anecdotes; this is a book of history and lost histories and life on big historical divides. Especially relevant is his section on Armenia, a nation with its own (lowercase) diaspora and rich history. More generally, this book provides a workable education on the state of the Trans-Caucuses region, which is among the least understood regions on the planet - no small matter since, with Russia's increased importance in the energy markets, this is a region that stands to gain hugely in relative world importance.
Rating:
Summary: Kaplan revisits his old haunts
Review: Robert Kaplan revisits some of the countries of his previous books, and the end result is a fascinating Hungary-to-Central Asia itinerary, mainly by train and bus. Through it all, he describes how these places have changed and what he predicts for their future. Kaplan's tragic flaw is that he's never content to be a mere travel writer; he's always seeking out deep truths about the world's future, and it is this overreaching that creates the flaws in his books. His normal approach is to describe interviews he's had with local (self-serving?) experts, and from this shaky foundation, extrapolate into the future. In short, this book is not the equal of his earlier work, 'The Ends of the Earth.' In this book, Kaplan's itinerary took him through Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Turkmenistan. Very little has been written in English about the last few countries, and Kaplan's book, despite its drawbacks, does introduce the reader to the political and ethnic dynamics of the region.
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