Author Guide · Foreign Affairs & Travel
Books Written by
In 1984 Robert D. Kaplan, a freelance reporter from Queens who had failed to get a job at any big-city newsroom, was in Iraq covering the war with Iran. Over the next four decades he reported from more than 100 countries, mostly for The Atlantic, and his books moved from the front line to the map: Afghan guerrillas, the Balkans, the Indian Ocean, the South China Sea, the American West. One of them, Balkan Ghosts (1993), was carried by a president; another, The Tragic Mind (2023), is partly about what that and his support for the Iraq war cost him. This guide covers his 14 key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 14 key books · 1990–2025 · Updated October 2026
ClickTap a spine to jump to that book below.
Quick answer
Robert D. Kaplan has written 24 books. The best known are Balkan Ghosts (1993), The Ends of the Earth (1996), The Revenge of Geography (2012) and The Tragic Mind (2023). Start with The Revenge of Geography, which sets out the way of thinking behind all the others; his latest, Waste Land (2025), applies it to the present.
Where to Start with Robert D. Kaplan
If you want the idea behind all his books
→ The Revenge of Geography (2012) — geography as the starting point of foreign policy.
If you want his most famous travel book
→ Balkan Ghosts (1993) — the Balkans on the eve of war.
If you want reportage from the poorest places on earth
→ The Ends of the Earth (1996).
If you want his most personal book
→ The Tragic Mind (2023) — tragedy, power and his own mistakes.
14 Robert D. Kaplan Books, in Order
Soldiers of God
Kaplan’s reporting with the Afghan guerrillas fighting the Soviet army in the 1980s, which began as an assignment for Reader’s Digest. It is a close portrait of the fighters and the war in the mountains, written before the Soviet withdrawal had played out. A later edition added material on Pakistan and the Taliban.
Balkan Ghosts
Travels through Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece, reading the region’s politics through its history of empires, churches and grievances. Several editors turned it down and it sold poorly at first; after the Yugoslav wars began, Bill Clinton was photographed with it. The New York Times named it one of the best books of 1993, while Balkan historians criticised it for presenting violence there as ingrained.
The Arabists
A history of the Americans who lived and worked in the Arab world from the nineteenth century on: missionaries, teachers, diplomats and military attachés, and the State Department specialists who descended from them. Kaplan argues that their attachment to the region shaped their views on current questions, including Israel.
The Ends of the Earth
A long journey from West Africa through Egypt, Turkey, Iran and Central Asia to the Indian subcontinent and Cambodia, starting in Sierra Leone. It expands the argument of his 1994 Atlantic essay “The Coming Anarchy”: that poverty, population growth, scarce resources and ethnic division were eroding states faster than the West realised.
Imperial Grunts
Kaplan travelled with small American military units, often Special Forces advisers, in Mongolia, Yemen, the Philippines, Colombia, the Horn of Africa, Afghanistan and Iraq, including the Marines at Fallujah in 2004. The book describes their day-to-day work far from Washington and treats it as a kind of informal empire. It was followed by Hog Pilots, Blue Water Grunts (2007).
Monsoon
A tour of the countries around the Indian Ocean, from the Arabian Peninsula and Pakistan to India, Burma and Indonesia, mixing reporting with history. Kaplan argues that the ocean, through which much of the world’s energy trade passes, is where Chinese, Indian and American power will meet.
The Revenge of Geography
His most systematic book: a case for taking mountains, rivers, distances and seas seriously in foreign policy. He draws on the classic geopolitical thinkers Halford Mackinder, Nicholas Spykman and Alfred Thayer Mahan, then gives chapters to Europe, Russia, China, India, Iran and Turkey. Political geographers criticised it as a revival of determinism.
Asia’s Cauldron
A short book on the South China Sea and the countries around it, including Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan, as China’s navy grows. The Financial Times named it one of the top ten political books of 2014.
In Europe’s Shadow
A return to Romania, a country Kaplan first reported on under Nicolae Ceaușescu in the early 1980s, set against Russia’s renewed pressure on Eastern Europe. It mixes his old notebooks with the country’s history and art.
Earning the Rockies
A coast-to-coast drive across the United States in the spring of 2015, through small towns and past Mount Rushmore. Kaplan argues that the continent’s geography protected America from invasion and shaped its temperament, and that the country must keep its global role.
Adriatic
A journey around the Adriatic Sea, up Italy’s east coast through Rimini, Ravenna, Venice and Trieste, then down through Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro and Albania to Corfu in Greece. It reads the region’s art and architecture as a record of the Venetian, Habsburg and Ottoman empires, and looks ahead to migration and climate change.
The Tragic Mind
A short book, published by Yale University Press, that reads Greek tragedy and Shakespeare as lessons for statesmen who must choose between evils. It is also a confession: Kaplan describes how being with the Marines at Fallujah in 2004 convinced him his support for the Iraq invasion was wrong, the years of clinical depression that followed, and the effect of Balkan Ghosts on Clinton.
The Loom of Time
A survey of the greater Middle East, from Turkey and Egypt through Syria, Iraq and Iran to Afghanistan and Pakistan, drawing on fifty years of interviews. Kaplan argues that the region’s defining story is the end of empire rather than the failure of democracy. It was runner-up for the Overseas Press Club’s book award on international affairs in 2024.
Waste Land
A short book comparing today’s world to the Weimar Republic: overlapping crises of war, great-power rivalry, pandemic, migration, climate change and technology, in which a collapse in one country can quickly become global. Kaplan argues that order and historic liberalism, more than mass democracy as such, are what stand between the world and anarchy.
In What Order to Read Robert D. Kaplan
Kaplan’s books stand alone, so read by region or by question. Publication order shows a clear arc, though: the early books are ground-level reportage from wars and famines, the middle books turn the journeys into geopolitics, and the late books step back to ask what all that reporting adds up to, and what he got wrong.
Read Balkan Ghosts and The Tragic Mind together: the first is the book Clinton carried, the second is Kaplan’s own verdict on its effect.
A reading path
1. The Revenge of Geography (2012)
2. Balkan Ghosts (1993)
3. The Ends of the Earth (1996)
4. Adriatic (2022)
5. The Tragic Mind (2023)
Everything Else Robert D. Kaplan Published
Beyond the 14 key books: 10 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
Early books and further travels
5
5 books · 1980–2004
- 1980Carta’s Guide to Israel and Jordana travel guide, his first book
- 1988Surrender or Starvethe wars behind the Ethiopian and Eritrean famines
- 1998An Empire Wildernesstravels through the American West, Mexico and Canada
- 2000Eastward to Tartarythe Balkans, the Middle East and the Caucasus
- 2004Mediterranean WinterTunisia, Sicily, Dalmatia and Greece, from his youthful travels
Essays, military reportage and biography
5
5 books · 2000–2021
- 2000The Coming Anarchyessays, including the 1994 Atlantic title piece
- 2002Warrior Politicsleadership lessons from Thucydides, Machiavelli and Churchill
- 2007Hog Pilots, Blue Water Gruntsthe sequel to Imperial Grunts, in the air and at sea
- 2018The Return of Marco Polo’s Worldessays on war, strategy and American interests
- 2021The Good Americana biography of the US government humanitarian consultant Bob Gersony
The years · 1952–2026
Quick facts about Robert D. Kaplan
- Known for
- Robert D. Kaplan is known for reporting from the world’s trouble spots for The Atlantic and for arguing that geography and history, more than ideals, shape what states can do.
- 1952
- Born in New York City; grows up in Far Rockaway, Queens
- 1984
- Reports the Iran–Iraq war from Iraq
- 1993
- Balkan Ghosts
- 2004
- With the Marines at Fallujah
- 2026
- Lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin
- Born
- 23 June 1952, New York City; his father drove a truck for the New York Daily News
- Education
- University of Connecticut, BA in English, 1973
- Worked
- Three decades as a foreign correspondent for The Atlantic; Israeli army service in his twenties
- Advisory roles
- Pentagon Defense Policy Board (from 2009); Stratfor, Eurasia Group, Center for a New American Security
- Teaching
- U.S. Naval Academy, 2006–2008; Foreign Policy Research Institute chair in geopolitics, 2020–2025; University of Texas at Austin
- Honours
- Twice on Foreign Policy’s Top 100 Global Thinkers; International Prize of the Spanish Geographical Society (2016)
The red mark is 1993: Balkan Ghosts, the book that made his name.
How Robert D. Kaplan Writes: The Map and the Notebook
Kaplan works from the ground up. Most of his books are built on journeys, by bus, car or on foot with soldiers, and on conversations with local officials, journalists and historians, written up in the first person. The Ends of the Earth, Adriatic and Earning the Rockies all follow a route, and the route sets the order of the chapters.
Over each journey he lays history and geography. He reads a place through the empires that ruled it, Ottoman, Habsburg, Venetian, Soviet, and through the classical geopolitical thinkers, Mackinder, Spykman and Mahan, whom he brought back to a general readership in The Revenge of Geography. His politics are realist: order first, and suspicion of wars fought to spread democracy.
That approach has drawn steady criticism. Balkan historians accused Balkan Ghosts of treating violence as ingrained in the region, and geographers called The Revenge of Geography determinist. The later books answer some of this directly: The Tragic Mind is written in the first person about his own errors, and Waste Land is less a travel book than an argument.
Watch
Robert D. Kaplan on The Revenge of Geography
Robert D. Kaplan talks with Charlie Rose about The Revenge of Geography and how physical landscapes shape politics and international relations. From the official Charlie Rose channel.
Frequently asked questions about Robert D. Kaplan’s books
How many books has Robert D. Kaplan written?
24, from Carta’s Guide to Israel and Jordan (1980) to Waste Land (2025). The 14 key books are listed on this page and the other ten are in the section below them. A new book, China Whisperers, is due from Scribner in November 2026.
What are Robert D. Kaplan’s books in order?
The key books are Soldiers of God (1990), Balkan Ghosts (1993), The Arabists (1993), The Ends of the Earth (1996), Imperial Grunts (2005), Monsoon (2010), The Revenge of Geography (2012), Asia’s Cauldron (2014), In Europe’s Shadow (2016), Earning the Rockies (2017), Adriatic (2022), The Tragic Mind (2023), The Loom of Time (2023) and Waste Land (2025).
Where should I start with Robert D. Kaplan?
The Revenge of Geography (2012), which sets out the way of thinking behind his other books. If you prefer travel writing to argument, start with Balkan Ghosts or Adriatic.
What is Robert D. Kaplan’s most famous book?
Balkan Ghosts (1993), his journey through Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece. The New York Times named it one of the best books of 1993, and it became widely known after Bill Clinton was photographed with it.
Did Balkan Ghosts influence Bill Clinton?
White House aides reportedly said the book helped persuade Clinton not to intervene in Bosnia early in the war, and Kaplan criticised the administration at the time for using it that way. Balkan scholars, among them Noel Malcolm, attacked the book for presenting the region’s violence as ingrained. In The Tragic Mind (2023) Kaplan writes that the book had the result, however unintended, of delaying a president’s response to mass murder in the Balkans.
What is The Tragic Mind about?
Greek tragedy and Shakespeare as guides for leaders who have to choose between bad options, and Kaplan’s own record. He supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq, changed his mind while with the Marines at Fallujah in 2004, and writes that the clinical depression he suffered for years afterwards led him to write the book.
What is “The Coming Anarchy”?
A long essay Kaplan published in The Atlantic in 1994, arguing that scarcity, disease, crime and population growth were breaking down states in West Africa and beyond. He expanded it in The Ends of the Earth (1996), and it gave its title to an essay collection in 2000.
Is Robert D. Kaplan still alive?
Yes. He was born on 23 June 1952 in New York City. In 2026 he became a distinguished senior lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin.
What is Robert D. Kaplan’s newest book?
His most recent published book is Waste Land: A World in Permanent Crisis (2025). China Whisperers, about the Americans who have shaped US views of China, is announced for 10 November 2026.
Is Robert D. Kaplan a realist?
Yes, by his own account. His books argue that geography, history and the need for order limit what states can achieve, and The Tragic Mind describes his support for the Iraq war as the moment he “failed my test as a realist”.
Footnotes
- Robert D. Kaplan — Wikipedia
- Robert D. Kaplan — biography, robertdkaplan.com
- The Tragic Mind review — Prospect, 2023
- The Loom of Time — Kirkus Reviews
- Adriatic — Kirkus Reviews
- China Whisperers — Simon & Schuster
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“I had failed my test as a realist.”
— Robert D. Kaplan, The Tragic Mind (2023), on his support for the Iraq war
If this shelf interested you, the full bookshelf has more: reading lists by theme, author guides, and notes on what is actually worth your time.
Browse the full bookshelf Get book recommendations