Eighty years of peace among the great powers are coming to an end.

And this may be the most important book you will read this year.

A penetrating as well as chilling look at the impending threat of the next war between great powers and the urgent interventions required to prevent it.

The overwhelming majority of people alive today came of age in a world of remarkable stability, under the hegemony of one or two superpowers. This does not mean that world was peaceful, but it was fairly predictable. As many great powers compete for regional supremacy, as well as for some competitive edge in nuclear technology, artificial intelligence, space exploration, or international trade, our world is becoming more fragile, combustible, and unpredictable. A new world war—of unprecedented scope and destructive power—now seems possible.

To understand the looming threats in these complex new circumstances, as Odd Arne Westad argues, it is helpful to look at the past, especially the late 19th and early 20th centuries: a time when the great powers clashed in pursuit of regional dominance, nationalism and populism were on the rise, and many were disillusioned by globalization. It was a period of increasing tariffs, daily concerns about migration and terrorism, and growing numbers of people blaming their problems on citizens of other countries—in other words, an era that bears nightmarish similarities to our own.