PositiveThe Financial TimesKaplan’s is no ordinary road trip. Anyone familiar with his work knows that riding shotgun with him from Massachusetts to San Diego will include detours to ancient Athens and into the works of Eurasian geopolitical strategists such as Halford Mackinder ... As Kaplan crosses the Illinois prairies, he reminds us that America’s success as a continental and thus global empire hinged on the ability of the pioneers to adapt to the Great Plains. Union Pacific trains and the Hoover Dam embody the topographical engineering that made the awe-inspiring west habitable ... Kaplan believes America is 'fated to lead.' I lean more in the direction of 'fated to influence, but not to drive.'
