In Europe's Shadow by Robert D Kaplan

In Europe's Shadow by Robert D Kaplan

"Sweeping and replete with alluring detail . . . a haunting yet ultimately optimistic examination of the human condition as found in Romania."-Alison Smale, The New York Times Book Review

From the New York Times bestselling author Robert D. Kaplan, named one of the world's Top 100 Global Thinkers by Foreign Policy magazine, comes a riveting journey through one of Europe's frontier countries-and a potent examination of the forces that will determine Europe's fate in the postmodern age.

Robert Kaplan first visited Romania in the 1970s, when he was a young journalist and the country was a bleak Communist backwater. It was one of the darkest corners of Europe, but few Westerners were paying attention. What ensued was a lifelong obsession with a critical, often overlooked country-a country that, today, is key to understanding the current threat that Russia poses to Europe. In Europe's Shadow is a vivid blend of memoir, travelogue, journalism, and history, a masterly work thirty years in the making-the story of a journalist coming of age, and a country struggling to do the same. Through the lens of one country, Kaplan examines larger questions of geography, imperialism, the role of fate in international relations, the Cold War, the Holocaust, and more.

Here Kaplan illuminates the fusion of the Latin West and the Greek East that created Romania, the country that gave rise to Ion Antonescu, Hitler's chief foreign accomplice during World War II, and the country that was home to the most brutal strain of Communism under Nicolae Ceaușescu. Romania past and present are rendered in cinematic prose- the ashen faces of citizens waiting in bread lines in Cold War-era Bucharest; the Bărăgan Steppe, laid bare by centuries of foreign invasion; the grim labor camps of the Black Sea Canal; the majestic Gothic church spires of Transylvania and Maramureş. Kaplan finds himself in dialogue with the great thinkers of the past, and with the Romanians of today, the philosophers, priests, and politicians-those who struggle to keep the flame of humanism alive in the era of a resurgent Russia.

Upon his return to Romania in 2013 and 2014, Kaplan found the country transformed yet again-now a traveler's destination shaped by Western tastes, yet still emerging from the long shadows of Hitler and Stalin. In Europe's Shadow is the story of an ideological and geographic frontier-and the book you must read in order to truly understand the crisis Europe faces, from Russia and from within.

Earning the Mountains, In Europe's Shadow, Asia's Cauldron, The Revenge of Geography, Monsoon, The Coming Anarchy, and Balkan Ghosts are among Kaplan's bestselling works on global politics and travel, which have been translated into numerous languages. He works as a senior advisor at Eurasia Group and a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security. His writing was published in The Atlantic for three decades. He was a member of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board and held the national security chair at the United States Naval Academy. He has been designated one of the world's Top 100 Global Thinkers by Foreign Policy magazine on two occasions.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780812986624
ISBN 10	0812986628
Title	In Europe's Shadow
Author	Robert D Kaplan
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Random House USA Inc
Year published	2016-11-01
Number of pages	352
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.