Rating: 
Summary: A complex, yet highly readable and pertient book
Review: This is not an ordinary "travel book", the author explores the culture, politics, history of parts of the world few westerners know exist. I was particulary interested in his travels through central asia (post soviet union countries) which I knew little about. His themes about population growth, dimishing resources, migrating populations, and their impact on the world were powerful and illuminating. We (in the west) may believe we are immune to the problems of the "third" world, Mr. Kaplan presents a very different picture. I read this book over six months ago and I'm still reflecting on it.
Rating:
Summary: a journey into the heart of the future
Review: As Kaplan writes in Balkan Ghosts "The past is yesterday's present and the future tomorrow's past". Therefore, the events of today's headlines are less significant than the global trends. However, in his unsentimental journey, Kaplan is careful to avoid the pitfalls of endism, producing what is instead an informed, educated and nuanced account of the threats to development in the twenty-first century. Even he admits that it is but one person's account and therefore subject to bias and flaws (which are certainly present), but the very nature of his "unsentimental journey" (a concept which is invaluable to those of us trying to understand the paths which developing societies take), he is enlightening the reader about many parts of the world, and in fact the nature of social transformation itself. By emphasizing the nature of population growth and combining this with an examination of the state and its legitimacy, he goes beyond the traditional modernist paradigm to examine the dark heart of "progress". A great read which sustained and informed me through 3 months in Latin America (an area I wish he would address).
Rating:
Summary: now I'm hooked.
Review: I read this on my flight to Turkey, as I experienced my first entry into a truly foreign country. Although I didn't take the risk of travelling outside of the "bubble" that Kaplan talks about, sections of this book definitely pertained to my trip. It altered the way I perceived the world around me. Instead of seeing some Istanbul neighborhoods as helplessly impoverished, I looked for signs of the middle-class ambition that Kaplan spoke of. I also realized that my standards of living are not available to most of the world, and The Ends of the Earth was a good introduction to this concept.I find particularly interesting the political context in Kaplan's travel writing. Not only do you get the direct visceral experience of travelling through so-called "third world" countries, but you get the political history. My friend said that the book itself is a journey through thought as it is a journey through countries. There is no final answer to why certain cultures develop in one way and others develop in other ways - but you'll certainly appreciate the process as Kaplan visits developing nations across the world and attempts to analyze the past's impact on the present. This book is highly readable. You simply do not get bored, and I can't think of another non-fiction book that I didn't want to put down at some point.
Rating: 
Summary: His eyes were open but he didn't see...
Review: I give him props for traveling the 'native way' and not in embassy SUVs with the free pass green plates, but that's about it.
He did not bother to figure out the differences between cultures, climates, or anything, he just took mental snapshots and wrote them down, usually with misplaced and uninformed incredulity.
The final straw for me was when he wrote about his visit to the Aswann damn and wrote about the dust on the photocopier, which he implied was due to lack of use. I've lived in the Sahel, just south of the Sahara, and I swept INCHES of dust from my house DAILY. That's what happens in parts of the world where there are dust and sand storms, and buildings aren't the sealed off stagnant cubes that they are in the west. It simply happens to be like that there, neither good nor bad. Maybe they hadn't used the copier, maybe they had. He obviously made his decisions long before bothering to travel to the places he wrote about.
This book is insulting to the people it talks about and insulting to the people who read it. If you think critically, avoid it, you'll throw up your arms in disgust. If, however, you like snap judgements from uninformed, pretentious 'the sky is falling' types, you'll love this book.
Rating:
Summary: It will open your eyes!
Review: Reading this book was required for my cultural geography class in college. Although hesitant to read it at first, this book quickly became one of my favorite books ever. Kaplan travels to some of the most impoverished and unstable regions of the world, including Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and the Far East, where he goes into great detail about what he has witnessed. As one can imagine the vast majority of these travels are extremely sad and makes one think about the state of the world. In addition, Kapalan provides much background information, about the regions' history, the people that inhabit the area, etc. Although sometimes it is not quite the easiest read, it is well worth the effort.
Rating: 
Summary: A MEANDERING, SOMETIMES FRUSTRATING, EXPERIENCE IN CHAOS
Review: AS A GEOPOLITICAL ANALYST IN EAST AFRICA, I READ THIS BOOK TO BROADEN MY UNDERSTANDING OF THE AREA. THIS IS NOT THE FIRST WORK BY THIS AUTHOR WHICH I'VE READ (HIS BOOK "SURRENDER OR STARVE" IS EXCELLENT) AND IT IS NOT HIS BEST. THE MEANDERING, STOP AND GO, RABBIT TRAIL PROGRESS OF THE BOOK WAS A BIT DISTRACTING AND FRUSTRATING FOR ME. THAT SAID, THE LACK OF ORDER IN HIS PRESENTATION OF THE MATERIAL DOES FIT HIS SUBJECT MATTER (HE WRITES OF HIS TRAVELS IN THE UNDERBELLY OF AFRICAN AND ASIAN CIVILIZATION). THE UNEXPECTED RESULT WAS THE FEELING OF HAVING EXPERIENCED TO SOME DEGREE THE CHAOS WHICH HE DESCRIBES.
AFTER READING ABOUT THE LIVES OF PEOPLE IN THE FORGOTTEN UNDERBELLY OF AFRICA, I FELT A SENSE OF ANGST AND SHEER DESPERATION - SURELY THEY MUST FEEL THE SAME? ON THAT LEVEL, THE BOOK WAS INTERESTING AND QUITE ENLIGHTENING. ON THE LEVEL OF NUTS AND BOLTS - THE READ ITSELF - HOWEVER, IT WAS AT TIMES A BIT LABORIOUS, AS TRUDGING THROUGH THE UNDERBRUSH.... (A PURPOSED LITERARY TECHNIQUE BY THE AUTHOR TO CONVEY THE FEELING OF AFRICAN RAINFOREST?... PROBABLY NOT - JUST POOR WRITING). I'D RECOMMEND THIS BOOK TO THOSE WITH EXTRA TIME ON THEIR HANDS AND A DESIRE TO EXPERIENCE THE FEEL OF THE 4TH WORLD (THESE PLACES DON'T EVEN QUALIFY AS THIRD WORLD). THE WORTHWHILE NUGGETS IT OFFERS REQUIRE AN AMOUNT OF DIGGING TO REACH THEM, BUT IT HAS ENLIGHTENED ME TO A WORLD OF EXPERIENCE QUITE FOREIGN TO MY OWN.
Rating:
Summary: An Intellectual Journey Through Turmoil
Review: Robert Kaplan succeeds in transporting the reader to East Africa, West Africa, Soutwest Asia, and Southern Asia all in one fantastically written. Kaplan has cemented his place as my favorite author of all time!
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