kermit_the_cat's review
medium-paced
2.0
Oof… a loving tribute to imperialism, I stuck with it to the end to try to figure out what he was gettin at but took umbrage with his sweeping unsupported claims & faulty reasoning. Facile at best.
auspea's review
5.0
Whenever I read Kaplan I yearn for the open road (who talks like this), to take not just a trip but a journey tracing his steps, visiting the places and time he evokes. He has this capability to spin me off on little knowledge Side quests that usually result in an expansion of my "To Read" list and a re-ordering of books on my night stand. In Earning the Rockies he guides us on a journey through space and time across the United States of America laying the foundation for the USA of the 21st Century. His analysis of global geopolitics is spot on. Loved it.
lauren_endnotes's review
3.0
Based on the title, I didn't expect this book to be a travelogue. I was expecting more philosophy, more history. Instead, we got Kaplan recounting his roadtrip and making assumptions.
If Kaplan would have stuck to the theoretical approach, he could have avoided the book's two biggest pitfalls:
- The book was written during the Presidential Primaries of 2015 and 2016. This seems like ages ago now, and he makes many assumptions about the election that... didn't happen.
- Instead of actually talking to people in coal country, the plains, the mountains, and the west coast, he chooses to just creep on their conversations at various diners, cafes, and restaurants. This seemed really sloppy, and lead him to make even more assumptions based on a single conversation that he overhears at IHOP/Bob Evans/Waffle House/Denny's.
This book had the potential and capacity to be much more. Still, I took away some things from it, and I want to find some other books that get more to the heart of this subject.
3 stars
If Kaplan would have stuck to the theoretical approach, he could have avoided the book's two biggest pitfalls:
- The book was written during the Presidential Primaries of 2015 and 2016. This seems like ages ago now, and he makes many assumptions about the election that... didn't happen.
- Instead of actually talking to people in coal country, the plains, the mountains, and the west coast, he chooses to just creep on their conversations at various diners, cafes, and restaurants. This seemed really sloppy, and lead him to make even more assumptions based on a single conversation that he overhears at IHOP/Bob Evans/Waffle House/Denny's.
This book had the potential and capacity to be much more. Still, I took away some things from it, and I want to find some other books that get more to the heart of this subject.
3 stars
amarti's review
5.0
Kaplan argues that American geography is a gift that has shaped our success as a nation. Our navigable waterways, abundant and diagonal (rather than running north and south, as in most countries), and our huge stretches of open land provide a unique bounty of wealth. This wealth strengthens us internally. We have learned to convert this "landscape power into economic power."
Yet these gifts come with a responsibility to lead. We have a unique responsibility to use these gifts to shape the world in a responsible way. Recently, we've failed this responsibility.
Yet these gifts come with a responsibility to lead. We have a unique responsibility to use these gifts to shape the world in a responsible way. Recently, we've failed this responsibility.
adammp's review
4.0
In many ways 'Earning the Rockies' feels like a capstone for the arc of Robert Kaplan's work from the mid-nineties through today. It is more a collection of two essays than a book, but it is well worth reading.
The first essay follows Kaplan's journey across continental United States, framing its narrative with the history of America's westward expansion and the state of America's heartland today.
The second essay, far shorter than the first, focuses on the United State's role in the broader world. Drawing on themes established in the first essay, it defends Kaplan's description of the United States as an empire, his advocacy of realism, and limited American engagement with the rest of the world.
Kaplan's defence of realism, particularism over universalism, and what he describes as 'cruel objectivity' is the maturation and conclusion of controversial arguments that he started a long time ago. They are best appreciated as such. While its style is accessible enough, I would hesitate to recommend this book to anyone who isn't already familiar with at least some of Kaplan's previous work. I appreciated the themes 'Earning the Rockies' addresses more as the conclusion of a conversation started in Kaplan's earlier works (and continued by his numerous critics).
The first essay follows Kaplan's journey across continental United States, framing its narrative with the history of America's westward expansion and the state of America's heartland today.
The second essay, far shorter than the first, focuses on the United State's role in the broader world. Drawing on themes established in the first essay, it defends Kaplan's description of the United States as an empire, his advocacy of realism, and limited American engagement with the rest of the world.
Kaplan's defence of realism, particularism over universalism, and what he describes as 'cruel objectivity' is the maturation and conclusion of controversial arguments that he started a long time ago. They are best appreciated as such. While its style is accessible enough, I would hesitate to recommend this book to anyone who isn't already familiar with at least some of Kaplan's previous work. I appreciated the themes 'Earning the Rockies' addresses more as the conclusion of a conversation started in Kaplan's earlier works (and continued by his numerous critics).
collismeanshill's review against another edition
4.0
'The answer to the devastation of [America's dying small towns] is not retrenchment or isolationism. Our obligations abroad are profound, and if we deny them we will only bring havoc upon ourselves, as new forms of terrorism and totalitarianism unhinge the global economic system. ... But also precisely because of [these towns] and the challenges they represent, we must keep from getting bogged down anywhere, except at home.' // There is much in this book I agree with, some that I don't, and a fair bit that I didn't like but could see his point nonetheless. The author puts forth an interesting argument for the role that claiming the frontier made in U.S. history and the world's -- and its continuing role.
kateofmind's review against another edition
4.0
Not, by any means, Kaplan's best, but even when he kind of phones it in it's worth my time. I kind of wish he'd have run for office in, say, the 90s. He'd have done us a lot of good.
lease34's review against another edition
1.0
DNF. This could have been very interesting but the author had a habit of making sweeping statements with no supporting data.