Recommended: Monsoon: The Indian Ocean and the Future of America Power

Robert Kaplan is a journalist/strategic analyst and author of some 12 other books about America foreign and military policy. In this book he argues that America’s historical preoccupation with the Atlantic and Pacific oceans has largely blinded it to the growing importance of the Indian Ocean, a key water highway for a majority of the world’s goods and energy supplies, and the site of a delicate confrontation between the USA and the burgeoning navies of India and China. This is a wonderful book to read, but a hard one to describe: part sensitive travelogue through all the countries that bound the Indian ocean, part analysis of the complex political/religious/ethnic balances throughout the region, part discussion of the tactical moves being made by China and India to expand their influence. Of particular interest is the discussion of the key geopolitical roles played by Burma (now Myanmar) and by the island of Taiwan. Well worth reading.