One of the must-read books of 2025 by the Financial Times

One of the most anticipated books of 2025 by Foreign Policy

A darkly brilliant, broad perspective on our chaotic, globalized world, where the present crises echo past tyrannies—by a best-selling geopolitical expert.

We are entering a new era of global catastrophe; a lethal mix of war, climate change, great power competition, rapid technological advancement, and the end of empire. In Waste Land, renowned international affairs author Robert D. Kaplan clearly explains how we got here and where we are headed.

Kaplan's distinctive approach to history, literature, politics, and philosophy draws parallels between today’s challenges and those of the Weimar Republic in Germany. Today, too, any national catastrophe could spread worldwide, given the unique dilemmas of this century—pandemics, recessions, urbanization, mass migration, destabilization under great democracy, and great power conflict, as well as the close relationships shaped by digital media. Can stability and historical liberalism, rather than mass democracy itself, save the world's populations from anarchic collapse?

Waste Land offers a striking look at a future defined by twenty-first-century technology, but with exceptional echoes of the past. The situation may spiral out of our control—unless our leaders act first.

Pages: 224, Dimensions: 13.8x13.8cm