Waste Land: A World in Permanent Crisis

A Sunday Times 'Book of the Week' and a Financial Times 'Book to Read', Robert D. Kaplan's Waste Land offers a darkly brilliant, wide-angled vision of our chaotic, globalised world, where present crises resonate with past tyrannies.

Renowned world affairs author Robert D. Kaplan incisively explains how we arrived at this new era of global cataclysm, characterized by a deadly mix of war, climate change, great-power rivalry, and rapid technological advancement. Drawing on his trademark sweep of history, literature, politics, and philosophy, Kaplan draws parallels between today’s challenges and those of Germany’s interwar Weimar Republic. He explores how contemporary dilemmas such as pandemics, recessions, urbanisation, mass migration, destabilisation under large-scale democracy, and great-power conflict could spread globally, amplified by the intimate bonds forged by digital media.

The book questions whether stability and historic liberalism, rather than mass democracy, might be the key to saving world populations from anarchic breakdown. Waste Land provides a bracing glimpse into a future defined by twenty-first-century technology, yet remarkably resonant with the past, suggesting that decisive leadership action is crucial to avert uncontrolled breakdown.

Key Features/Benefits:

• A compelling analysis of current global crises and their historical parallels.
• Explores the interconnectedness of modern challenges like climate change, war, and technological advancement.
• Offers insights from a bestselling geopolitical expert.
• Features a sweeping perspective drawing from history, literature, politics, and philosophy.

Specifications:

• Author: Robert D. Kaplan
• Publisher: C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd
• Publication Date: 17 September 2026
• Language: English
• Print Length: 224 pages
• Binding: Paperback
• Item Weight: 505 g
• ISBN-10: 1805266926
• ISBN-13: 978-1805266921

Waste Land is a thought-provoking read for anyone seeking to understand the complex geopolitical landscape of the 21st century.