Rating: 
Summary: Yesterday's dinner becomes today's lunch.
Review: "Balkan Ghosts" and "To the Ends of the Earth" are two of the more spectacular travel books I have ever read. Kaplan is a journalist who writes lucidly and trenchantly. Who is not afraid to pull his punches and speak his mind -- even when what he has to say may be politically sensitive or "incorrect". His portrait of Greece in "Balkan Ghosts" changed forever the way I see that country. So I begin by saying that when this man is on top of his game -- he can WRITE!!People who read his books want to think that the West's, or at least America's, foreign policy is actually being informed by his writing -- and maybe it has to some extent. To the point where Richard Bernstein in the New York Times Review of Books wrote, "The recommendation to the next head of the greatest power of them all: read this book." Whoa. Let's take a deep breath for a second here and think deep blue sea. Kaplan is a wonderful writer. And he travels to the back of beyond. And he is brave, forthright and uncompromising. But should foreign policy be influenced by him? Does he, "belong in the company of giants like Sir Richard Burton"? I am not so sure. For one thing, Kaplan is the master of the anecdote -- yes he does his research, but at the end of the day, the views that are expressed are to some extent unscientifically collected and presented. Kaplan is an aggregator. He is a popularizer of the views of Donald Kagan, Samuel Huntington, Victor Hanson and others (which isn't to say he doesn't have his own voice or ideas). And all aggregators run the risk of sometimes just "getting it wrong." This is particularly true of his flimsy volume, "Warrior Politcs" which is a disappointing rehash of rather superficial articles that had been previously published. It is also true of "Eastward to Tartary". This is a sort of "Balkan Ghosts-lite". In fact in the early chapters he retraces some of his earlier travels -- but his insights are hardly as trenchant. And sometimes he says truly outlandish things. For example, when writing of the Romanian Army on the East Front, he says, "The Romanian military also had a good fighting reputation...It was only because the Romanians had been forced marched while underfed that the Russians were able to break through their lines near Stalingrad." Excuse me? Where on earth did Kaplan come up with THAT notion. How about they had no armour, no winter clothing and most importantly no anti-tank weapons. He is also a prognosticator and unlike his earlier books which seem to be standing the test of time, I am not so sure his more recent doom and gloom prophecies are being born out. He is in danger of becoming a latter day Chicken Little: "the sky is falling, the sky is falling." Sure it is. Now, it is unfair to judge his entire book on the basis of a few errors. But believe me, this book has more than just the one cited. And one does become just a tad weary of his formula. It also has the air of a book that was hurriedly tossed off to satisfy a hungry public or a contractual requirement. His judgements come to easily, to quickly, without adequate preparation or evidence. Whereas I scoured "Balkan Ghosts" and "To the Ends of the Earth", I found myself losing focus and flipping pages. I admire Robert Kaplan. And I share many of his opinions. I suppose it is good that these views are represented by a writer whose books are widely read. But I want him to be better because he CAN be better. I just wish he would return to his old form and stop serving up yesterday's dinner for today's lunch.
Rating: 
Summary: Detail You Might Hate, But You Need It...
Review:
This will not be a long review. There is a similarity to Robert Kaplan's books, and my reviews of his other books will suffice for additional detail.
Having said that, I will also say that this book continues an excellent pattern of combining prior reading of history, a solid understanding of geography, and a gift for drawing out from an astonishing diversity of individuals, those little details that may bore in the aggregate but are priceless when endured and absorbed. He seems to have missed the genocide against the Tatars, but perhaps that was hidden from him. There is one huge gem, at least for me, in this book, and that is his assessment of the potential for a new schism between Western and Eastern Christianity, and how that must be avoided at all costs. This one sentence and the surrounding text is alone worth the price of the book.
Rating:
Summary: Superb Reporting, Magnificent Book!
Review: Having read, enjoyed and profited from every one of Kaplan's books, I've recommended many and given several to valued friends. Kaplan has emerged as the best of a fine new breed of journalists, men and women who break out of the capital city circuit to bring us an up-close view of foreign realities. Often, those realities have conflicted with the comfortable diplomatic "wisdom," and Kaplan is unpopular with those who prefer an easy fantasy of mankind to the insistent, often-tragic reality. For my money, Kaplan is a national treasure, a clear-eyed, sure-voiced man of courage who takes risks to bring back an urgent vision of a world "globalizing" at a very uneven rate. And "Eastward to Tartary" is the finest of his many fine books. My only hesitation is in calling him a journalist, since he's so much more than that--he's a genuine strategic thinker whose vision consistently has proven more accurate than the work of any Washington think-tank drone or campus "expert," most of whom are as fearful of the people they wish to analyze as they are of the water from their hotel tap. Kaplan has an explorer's soul and a veteran soldier's eye for the lie of the ground. I have been to seven of the countries Kaplan discusses in this book, and I can attest that his eye is unerring. He has a gift for clear, literate prose that captures in a phrase what another writer could not get in a page. And he talks to everyone, not just to ambassadors and government mouthpieces. A man of boundless curiosity and as restless as Huckleberry Finn, his portraits of states and peoples from Eastern Europe to the Caucasus and down into the region long known as the Levant are timely and useful. What you read on these pages is exactly what is there in Georgia, or Turkey, or Lebanon. This book really is a remarkable achievement, for which my praise is insufficient. So, let me simply say this is a valuable, fascinating work that would reward readers on Capitol Hill, on Wall Street, or in Bisbee, Arizona: a wonderful, wonder-filled book!
Rating: 
Summary: A bit tedious but very interesting
Review: I am relatively new to Kaplan's work. Previously I have read "An Empire Wilderness", which I fould very enlightening and also familiar as I have lived and traveled throughout the American Southwest for over twenty years. "Eastward to Tartary" is altogether different. Presently I am reading the last third of the book, having read the portion of Kaplan's travels into Baku.
For me, it is the glimpse into what from an American point of view is a very obscure, almost forgotten world that I find most intriguing. I could expound for hours on the foreign policy implications, history, etc. presented in this book, but instead I will (thankfully...) simply mention that this book is the first writing since I read "Turkish Reflections" and "East Meets West" to so effectively transport me from my chair to the other side of the planet. If for no other reason, a person curious about the dark, shady side of the world will find "Eastward to Tartary" an eye-opening introduction to these overlooked, sometimes vibrant, sometimes decaying, often dangerous, always surprising regions. Though in other reviews here and elsewhere Kaplan's writing is occasionally portrayed as ultimately political and rather harsh, in this book I have found very broad strokes of humanity. The author obviously has a finely honed sense of observation (it goes with the travel-journalism territory). While the book may not be as warmly focused on the anectdotal, wry and off-beat side of travel we have seen from Paul Theroux, Kaplan has put together a treatise that paints a very believable picture of crumbling remnants of empire, the resulting degeneration of basic human order, and hints of faded, long lost former glory. Lest the reader think this is entirely a portion of the obituary of the Russian, Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires (so exhaustively examined by other very capable writers), "Eastward to Tartary" also offers a somewhat tenuous vision of improving standards of living and potential stability as in Jordan, Turkey and even tormented Georgia. This is a book that will expand the horizons of most readers, particularly those, like myself, who are quite unfamiliar with this part of the world. I did find the writing a bit tedious in places, with an emphasis on historical backgrounds that can occasionally feel like rather dark, stuffy hallways, but overall this only marginally detracts from the overall presentation.
Rating: 
Summary: Another failed attemp to understand the region in question
Review: I can understand Mr Kaplan's dilemma: It is almost impossible for a "Westerner" to understand the intricacies of the region and of the character of its people, especially if one has a manifestly orientalist view of world. If you set out to explore the world believing that Western values are the ones that are universal and applicable to any society in any time, you will find yourself in Mr. Kaplan's shoes: you will convince yourself and your fellow Western experts that how advanced Western countries are and how hopeless the situation in the third world countries to establish western values in their societies. The book is full of views based on scientifically immature opinions, derived not from Mr. Kaplan's observations but from the attempted explanations of intellectuals of the countries in question. Furthermore, you can encounter some scenes of a country depicted skillfully, choice of which evinces that the author of the book is not partial. Other than those negative aspects, Mr. Kaplan is a talented writer, the book is enjoyable and it is good to know the opinions(likes and/or dislikes) of an influential author and intellectual towards certain cultures.
Rating:
Summary: A Brilliant Overview
Review: I finished this wonderful book last night knowing that I would have to re-read it very soon. There is simply too much to absorb at one reading. Twelve hours after putting the book down, I saw a headline in the Guardian (a UK daily), "US to send troops to Georgia". Before reading "Eastward to Tartary", this headline would have meant nothing. But now.....
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.
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.
Rating:
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.
|
