false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173842564m/335217.jpg 335217 2 Robert Kaplan has reported from locales as diverse and chaotic as shantytowns in the Ivory Coast, death camps in Cambodia, and the frontlines of the war-ravaged Balkans, but his most challenging assignment may have been covering his own country. In this ambitious and evocative study, Kaplan vividly chronicles his "travels into America's future," a journey that begins in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas--"the starting point for what would one day be called Manifest Destiny"--and continues across the West, where the population is growing faster than anywhere else in the country and multiple American identities reveal a nation in flux. He explores cities such as St. Louis and Omaha, Nebraska, that typify the increased urban fragmentation of the heartland; onward to Tucson, Arizona, and Santa Fe, New Mexico, where great wealth and poverty exist cheek by jowl; through the sprawl of multiethnic Southern California, where the landscape is perched somewhere between urban and suburban; and up through the Pacific Northwest into Canada. He also visits towns along the U.S.-Mexico border, dipping as far south as Mexico City, to investigate the conditions driving so many Mexicans north, despite feverish efforts by the U.S. to keep them out, and the new cultural hybrid being formed by this migration.<p> Kaplan uncovers a nation polarized along ethnic, economic, and political lines, where the uneven distribution of rapid technological advances allows some groups to surge forward, cultivating a radically different world-view than their poorer, less educated neighbors. Much of his report is bleak, but despite his insistence on documenting the worst, plenty of examples of prosperity and hope appear in these pages. What comes across most clearly is that there is still plenty of room for speculation on exactly how and where the new boundaries will be drawn. In this respect, America's future still carries the promise of the Wild West: equal parts opportunity, possibility, and uncertainty. <I>--Shawn Carkonen</I> 413239 1998 An Empire Wilderness: Travels into America's Future total:95|5:27|4:38|3:22|2:7|1:1| 95 368 137 7 2 0 false false Fri Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Fri May 04 11:03:47 -0700 2007 Fri May 04 12:30:21 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Sep 18 12:02:40 -0700 2007 Wed Aug 29 15:04:26 -0700 2007 Mon Sep 10 13:22:27 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Oct 07 08:35:00 -0700 2007 Mon Dec 10 08:16:31 -0800 2007 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Apr 01 00:00:00 -0800 2004 Thu Apr 03 18:09:38 -0700 2008 Thu Apr 03 18:13:20 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Sun Aug 10 10:10:44 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 10 10:11:35 -0700 2008 5 0 false false Wed Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Fri Aug 24 14:48:00 -0700 2007 Fri Aug 24 14:50:01 -0700 2007 3 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2001 Thu Jan 24 13:05:26 -0800 2008 Thu Jan 24 13:05:39 -0800 2008 3 0 false false Sat Nov 28 13:16:13 -0800 2009 Sat Nov 28 13:16:33 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Sun Nov 22 16:47:05 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 22 16:47:05 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Wed Nov 18 21:10:41 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 18 21:10:41 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Thu Nov 05 22:02:27 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 05 22:02:27 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Thu Oct 22 13:13:53 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 22 13:13:53 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Oct 20 07:10:18 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 20 07:10:20 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Oct 06 19:13:55 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 06 19:13:55 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Tue Sep 29 15:41:05 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 29 15:41:05 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Thu Sep 17 16:14:31 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 17 16:14:31 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sun Sep 27 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 08 17:52:10 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 28 12:04:07 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sat Sep 05 12:43:37 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 05 12:43:37 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Fri Sep 04 23:07:26 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 04 23:30:32 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Tue Sep 01 07:08:33 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 01 07:08:33 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=335217