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Prospero's Reviews > Monsoon: The Indian Ocean and the Future of American Power
Monsoon: The Indian Ocean and the Future of American Power
by
by
From time to time a book comes that dramatically transforms those who come into contact with it. I was 26 when I first discovered this book, and it utterly changed my life.
Read this alongside Kaplan's luminous collection of essays, The Coming Anarchy, and it'll utterly change yours too.
Monsoon deftly wove together together all the key themes of my life to reshape my outlook on international relations from the perspective of the Greater Indian Ocean, and now as I follow the trajectory of international affairs in my life and career, with the economic centre of the world economy slowly traveling eastward, I find myself thinking about it every day.
My only regret? Not being able read this book again for the first time at the age of 26, when I was lost and trying to find a career path that would help me combine and reconcile my interests in history, international relations, travel, culture and literature. For those who haven't read Kaplan before, this is a treat. For those familiar with his work, this book is still as relevant today as it was when it was first published in 2010.
Deftly weaving together history, political analysis, geography and literature together in crystalline prose to illuminate his travels through the littoral states lying athwart the Indian Ocean, Kaplan makes his case for why the Indian Ocean Region stretching from Aden to Malacca will be to the 21st century (and beyond) what the Mediterranean was to the world of Antiquity - a thriving thoroughfare of commerce, culture and conflict that unites Europe, Asia and Africa to become the centre of the world economy.
I envy those who will read this book for the first time, because it'll make you realize (among other things) that you're looking at the world map all wrong - I now hang a copy of the world map in my room with Asia at its centre (not Europe), because that's the map my children will grow up seeing and taking for granted.
Read this alongside Kaplan's luminous collection of essays, The Coming Anarchy, and it'll utterly change yours too.
Monsoon deftly wove together together all the key themes of my life to reshape my outlook on international relations from the perspective of the Greater Indian Ocean, and now as I follow the trajectory of international affairs in my life and career, with the economic centre of the world economy slowly traveling eastward, I find myself thinking about it every day.
My only regret? Not being able read this book again for the first time at the age of 26, when I was lost and trying to find a career path that would help me combine and reconcile my interests in history, international relations, travel, culture and literature. For those who haven't read Kaplan before, this is a treat. For those familiar with his work, this book is still as relevant today as it was when it was first published in 2010.
Deftly weaving together history, political analysis, geography and literature together in crystalline prose to illuminate his travels through the littoral states lying athwart the Indian Ocean, Kaplan makes his case for why the Indian Ocean Region stretching from Aden to Malacca will be to the 21st century (and beyond) what the Mediterranean was to the world of Antiquity - a thriving thoroughfare of commerce, culture and conflict that unites Europe, Asia and Africa to become the centre of the world economy.
I envy those who will read this book for the first time, because it'll make you realize (among other things) that you're looking at the world map all wrong - I now hang a copy of the world map in my room with Asia at its centre (not Europe), because that's the map my children will grow up seeing and taking for granted.
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As the Indian Ocean was in the past as well from the heydays of Mesopotamia, Indus civilizations, Egypt, Greece, Tamil kingdoms, Rome, China and Age of Discovery. Very interesting review!