I have a confession to make. I actually started reading the first book I plan to discuss here in 2008. I’m not sure if a book partially read in 2008 technically counts towards my goal of 25 books about foreign places in 2009, but since I’m in charge, I made the executive decision that it does. So, book number one is Eastward to Tartary: Travels in the Balkans, the Middle East, and the Caucasus by Robert D. Kaplan.

Robert Kaplan is a pretty interesting guy. Among other things, he’s served in the Israeli military, traveled to pretty much everywhere in the developing world, and was embedded with American troops several times during the course of the war in Iraq. A different book written by Kaplan (Balkan Ghosts) was supposedly read by President Clinton who was influenced by Kaplan’s writing when deciding how to respond to the disintigration of Yugoslavia.

Eastward to Tartary was written at the turn of the millenium and is about Kaplan’s travels through Eastern Europe, the Balkans, the Middle East and Cacasus in the late 1990s. Even though the book is approaching ten years old, Kaplan has some interesting insights into a region that is still at the forefront of the world’s attention.

Before I get started delving into Eastward to Tartary, I thought I would highlight some of Kaplan’s articles at The Atlantic Monthly covering the same areas as the book. When reading these articles, I recognized ideas he developed in the book.

• Obama’s Afghanistan Hurdles (2008) How Obama can improve the situation in Afghanistan so as to free himself up for pressing economic matters.
• Asymmetry at Sea (2008) What war with Iran in the Gulf could be like.
• It’s the Tribes Stupid! (2007) Quelling anarchy in Iraq, Pakistan, and elsewhere, will require building on tribal loyalties—not imposing democracy from the top down.
• A Historian for Our Time (2007) Thucydides may have been the more trustworthy historian, but Herodotus would have been more fun to share a wineskin with—and is a better guide to the god-filled geopolitics of the current era.
• Where Europe Vanishes (2000) Civilizations have collided in the Caucasus Mountains since the dawn of history, and the region’s dozens of ethnic groups have been noted for “obstinacy and ferocity” since ancient times.
• The Lawless Frontier (2000) The tribal lands of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border reveal the future of conflict in the Subcontinent, along with the dark side of globalization.
• Sons of Devils (1987) In a turbulent region the stateless Kurds play the role of spoiler.

And just to provide a well rounded view of Kaplan, Tom Bissell published this scathing review of his body of work. If you’re an author writing about a topic Bissell knows something about, be very nice to him. I cringed through most of his review. I’m not an expert in Central Asia, so I can’t really pick a winner, but Bissell definitely has well thought out, well argued punches.

Related Posts:

• Provocative Quote on Traveling Alone
• Trust But Verify: Using Hindsight to Read Eastward to Tartary