Recommended: The Revenge of Geography

Robert Kaplan's 2012 book The Revenge of Geography: What the Map Tells Us About Coming Conflicts and The Battle Against Fate is a wonderful summary of all areas of the world in geopolitical terms, as shaped by their geography. In large measure it is a useful companion to George Friedman's recent books (The Next 100 Years, and Flashpoints), but Kaplan goes into far more detail about the history, both ancient and recent, that has shaped the culture and geopolitical outlook of the peoples who inhabit these areas.

Of particular interest, I thought, was his concluding section on America, in which he argues that while the East Coast ruling elites have been focused on adventures and political maneuvering in Russia, China and the Middle East, they have been ignoring the single most important area to America's future, our neighbor to the South, Mexico. Were we to invest as much as we have invested in the Middle East wars in Mexico instead, we would have a stable, economically powerful and friendly partner which would make North America the powerhouse of the world.  If we continue to ignore Mexico we will end up sharing a 2000 mile long border with an immensely wealthy and violent narco-state that threatens the stability of our nation.  I find his argument persuasive.