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Copy/paste the text below into your blog. <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10662.The_Ends_of_the_Earth_From_Togo_to_Turkmenistan_from_Iran_to_Cambodia_a_Journey_to_the_Frontiers_of_Anarchy?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="The Ends of the Earth: From Togo to Turkmenistan, from Iran to Cambodia, a Journey to the Frontiers of Anarchy" border="0" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/photo.goodreads.com/books/1166254518m/10662.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10662.The_Ends_of_the_Earth_From_Togo_to_Turkmenistan_from_Iran_to_Cambodia_a_Journey_to_the_Frontiers_of_Anarchy?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">The Ends of the Earth: From Togo to Turkmenistan, from Iran to Cambodia, a Journey to the Frontiers of Anarchy</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6970.Robert_D_Kaplan">Robert D. Kaplan</a><br/><br/> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6695589?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a> rating: 5 of 5 stars<br/>This is a depressing book. <br/> <br/>A journey through parts of Africa, the Mideast and Asia, it chronicles the depths to which many of the world's peoples, nations, and their environments have sunk, with little to give hope for their renewal or survival. <br/> <br/>Some of the intertwined causes: poverty, tyrannical governments, depletion and destruction of resources (the Soviet Union gets lots of points here for "ecocide" as the author terms it), overpopulation, joblessness, loss of family and cultural ties, ethnic strife, the arbitrary creation of national borders without consideration of the peoples involved, Western colonialism and interference...and other related issues, I'm sure you can fill in the blanks. Written 15 years ago, much of what Kaplan saw has only disintegrated further. The United States is a tiny island of relative calm and prosperity, and it's obvious the the methods our government is using to try to control and change these chaotic situations is doomed to not only fail, but isolate us still further. <br/> <br/> <br/>Does Kaplan see any hope? A few glimmers. <br/> <br/>"Democracy...seemed an effort that should begin with the economic development and the establishment of schools". And he does find a few places where this process is beginning. Life must have some stability, people need to be rooted somewhere, and resources need to be conserved and renewed. But he believes this cannot be "imposed", the people themselves must take control of their lives and environment, and not all solutions will be the same. <br/> <br/>It seems a tall order. <br/> <br/>One thing he notes time and again is how "nations" and borders are breaking down into more cultural and ethnic entities. And that the future map of the world, in order to survive, may have to be much different than it is today. <br/> <br/>He also concludes that the history of the earth has had "many wearisome centuries of violence and chaos" and that "the great ages of virtue are few and far between". <br/> <br/>The most important issue that stood out to me is ecological destruction which is tied in with overpopulation. Water is a big problem (as it is here in some areas of the US), but it's often tied in with the destuction of forests...well it's all connected. Al Gore is right: it's really world ecology, the world needs to work together in order for the Earth to remain habitable for the long-term. <br/> <br/>One more note: much world news I would previously glide over now has a face for me, having traveled there via Kaplan's book. Although my sense of geography still needs a lot of work... <br/> <br/><br/><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/412055?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>