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As a boy, Kaplan listened to his truck-driver father's evocative stories about traveling across America as a young man. Kaplan undertakes his own cross-country journey to recapture an understanding of American geography that is often lost in the jet age. We must understand our geography in order to confront the challenging, anarchic world that Kaplan describes.
“There is more insight here into the Age of Trump than in bushels of political-horse-race journalism. . . .
Earning the Rockies is a tonic, because it brings fundamentals back into view.”
—The New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice) “A sui generis writer . . . America’s East Coast establishment has only one Robert Kaplan, someone as fluently knowledgeable about the Balkans, Iraq, Central Asia and West Africa as he is about Ohio and Wyoming.”
—Financial Times “In his long career as a foreign correspondent, Robert Kaplan has pursued stories in places as remote as Yemen and Outer Mongolia. In
Earning the Rockies, he visits a place almost as remote to many Americans: these United States. . . . The author’s point is a good one: America is formed, in part, by a geographic setting that is both sanctuary and watchtower.”
—The Wall Street Journal “A text both evocative and provocative for readers who like to
think … In his final sections, Kaplan discusses in scholarly but accessible detail the significant role that America has played and must play in this shuddering world.
”—Kirkus Reviews“
Earning the Rockies is a brilliant reminder of the impact of America’s geography on its strategy. An essential complement to his previous work on the subject of geostrategy, Kaplan’s latest contribution should be required reading.”
—Henry A. Kissinger“Robert D. Kaplan uses America’s unique geography and frontier experience to provide a lens-changing vision of America’s role in the world, one that will capture your imagination. Unflinchingly honest, this refreshing approach shows how ideas from outside Washington, D.C., will balance America’s idealism and pragmatism in dealing with a changed world. A jewel of a book,
Earning the Rockies lights the path ahead.”
—Secretary of Defense James Mattis “
Earning the Rockies is a thoughtful, engrossing, eloquent reflection on the United States’ westward expansion to fill our continent—and on the implications of the resulting national character for the current debate about the proper role of America in the world. Here’s another masterpiece by Robert D. Kaplan.”
—General (Ret.) David Petraeus“Robert D. Kaplan has given us a great gift in this intelligent, engaging, and memorable book about America at home and abroad. Jefferson believed our national fate inextricably linked to the West; Kaplan shows us how true that remains all these years distant.”
—Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House“Any Robert D. Kaplan road trip is bound to be compelling, but
Earning the Rockies is all the more so for crossing America. Like Kerouac and Tocqueville, Kaplan makes us see the country in a wholly new way. This concise classic is highly recommended.”
—John Lewis Gaddis, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of George F. Kennan: An American Life “What a fine, stimulating, energizing, and thoroughly original book . . . All diplomats and soldiers—indeed, all Americans with power or the hope of power—should read Robert D. Kaplan generally, and this slim volume particularly.”
—Simon Winchester, New York Times bestselling author of Pacific: The Ocean of the Future
