Summary for a long review: Excellent book. A grim and brutally honest geographical, political, and military summary of several of the strongest and most influential nations. Most of these countries will be massively changed for the worst by America's ongoing rapid military withdrawal in world affairs that started with the end of the cold war pacts against the Soviet Union. This reads like a Tom Clancy book for coming wars, countries crashing down, power vacuums, and a dystopian future. It should sell well. One half star off for the long history lessons and not giving timelines or probabilities on particular events listed actually occurring.
I read the book in one go. This is the third book by Peter Zeihan and his second best. “Accidental Superpower” is his best book as it is a global summary of why certain countries have strong economies due mostly to what they have in the way of geography, resources, governments, and safe borders. I consider it essential reading to fully understand Disunited Nations. If this is your first time reading Peter’s books, buy both. Read Accidental Superpower first, and then this book. I definitely would go for the hard copies as there are a lot of footnotes and maps that make Kindle reading a lot of flipping about to read the footnotes and jumping to the web page to see the maps. Colored maps are now included for Disunited Nations on Peter’s website which is terrific as the gray on gray shading of the hard copy is tough to interpret. Absent Superpower is more about the affect oil has on the world, how protecting the sea-lanes is impossible for most nations without the US fleets and the effect that the fracking revolution has had on the US so it is my third choice for his books.
The premise of the book is that the US created free global access and protection to oceangoing commerce at the end of WW2 to countries that backed US attempts to block the Soviet Union from gaining territories or coercing governments. The US also opened its doors to free trade with the US companies and consumers even though that created large trade imbalances. With the fall of the Soviet Union, inertia kept that going but it is quickly going away. No longer will the US instinctively fight wars like Korea or Vietnam just to show that they were all in on protecting their allies. No longer will the US fight wars in the Middle East to protect oil trade now that we export fracked oil. No longer will our aircraft carriers protect international ocean-going trade routes. What countries will the US protect now? What nations will have to protect their own country and their own trade with their own military and what countries have the means to do so?
The whole book is centered on eleven nations around the world. Each of them has certain critical parts:
A lesson in the country’s geography for their ability to grow food, their navigable rivers and ports, croplands, access to natural resources, barriers that help to protect their borders, and their aging demographics. This is much more fleshed out in the Accidental Superpower book and really is the crux of all of Peter’s books.
A history lesson is given on their formation of the country and how they fare with their neighbors, especially with belligerent Russia and China as well as the European Union (A united Germany has some very wary neighbors for instance).
The continuity and composition of their present government and how well they have gotten along with the US in both the past and the present. Since the US has guarded all the oceans allowing unfettered access to global trade during the cold war, this is important as the US is quickly getting out of this role, especially for uneasy alliances formed in the past.
Their military power and how it handles their ability to protect themselves if the US military no longer cares to get involved to protect the country or its sea trade routes. This is extremely important for counties that need to import just about everything (China) or have huge worldwide exports (China and Germany).
The economy of both the country and region. How much of their economy depends on worldwide trading vs local consumption in its own country or its immediate neighbors? How strong does the government control its economy? Finally, the big question, how vulnerable its economy is to shocks of loss of trading partners, wars in the region, and dependent on the US protecting them?
The outlook of the country, especially the ones that are heavily dependent on global trade yet are not besties with the US. What vulnerabilities and opportunities will occur in the future for them as countries start to destabilize as their economies change and their neighbors get weaker and/or more belligerent.
The final section is how well the US will come out of all of the turmoil that Peter predicts for these nations and the EU. Included is a fascinating look at the forces that reshaping our political parties as they try to cope with radical changes in their parties, their people, their country, and the world.
The book is written in kind of a grim, breezy style that is typically Peter. The history sections can get convoluted and bog down the pace. Plenty of funny and snarky footnotes. Peter has very strong opinions on, say, the ruling families of Saudi Arabia (avoid going there in the future Peter- you will be welcomed only for a good barbecue). Most countries get a brutal report card of bad governing, nasty relations with neighbors, and terrible economic futures. He is most definitely disgusted with the hype of “China’s miracle” (or in his words “Panda Boom”) economic growth and expects the country to have the largest and most spectacular crash in history as it goes down some time in Peter’s nebulous timelines. None of Peter's predictions have due dates, a few “next 5-10 years” and Peter’s patented demographic aging charts showing the rapid growth of elderly people retiring and crashing the economies. “Be specific, Bob.” You may be plucking from the air but if you are right, folks will forget the wrong predictions and remember the right ones.
One final note which made me laugh out loud. As I am writing this, a certain bug is in the news in its early days with an R nought of 2.6 that started in a live animal open-air market in China 17 miles from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, China’s only BSL-4 bio lab that tests its pathogens on live animals. As Peter says for causing a country mayhem “Never underestimate the power of a good plague”.
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Great on Kindle
Great Experience. Great Value.
Putting our best book forward
Each Great on Kindle book offers a great reading experience, at a better value than print to keep your wallet happy.
Explore your book, then jump right back to where you left off with Page Flip.
View high quality images that let you zoom in to take a closer look.
Enjoy features only possible in digital – start reading right away, carry your library with you, adjust the font, create shareable notes and highlights, and more.
Discover additional details about the events, people, and places in your book, with Wikipedia integration.
Get the free Kindle app: 
Enjoy a great reading experience when you buy the Kindle edition of this book. Learn more about Great on Kindle, available in select categories.
Customers who bought this item also bought
Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
About the author
Masterful and Fascinating - Must Reading for Those Interested in Geopolitics
Steep for a Kindle book - but well worth it. Peter Zeihan is new to me, and I found his Disunited Nations to be a very well-written look at the geopolitical state of the world today and where it is going in the coming years and decades. He uses the realities of geography and lessons of history to set the stage, then mixes in the realities of today's demography and macroeconomics to drive home points. He makes strong cases for sea power throughout the book.This book is not for the casual reader, but those who have a background or interest in pol/mil issues will find it an enjoyable page turner. Also recommended for those in multinational business. Don't miss.
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews. Please reload the page.
- Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2020
- Reviewed in the United States on August 14, 2020
Top reviews from other countries
-
Alexandre Fernandes de AlencarReviewed in Brazil on May 15, 2021
Abrangente avaliação da política global nos dias de hoge
-
- MichaelReviewed in the United Kingdom on July 7, 2020
A page-turnings sweep of geopolitics but with firm grasp of detail
- Cliente AmazonReviewed in Spain on November 27, 2024
Interesting. But full of mistakes, assumptions and wishful thinking
