Robert Kaplan received acclaim for his earlier work, “Balkan Ghosts” (which was excellent), but “Eastward to Tartary” blows it out of the water. The way Kaplan is able to explain the complex religious and tribal conflicts in the Near and Middle East is remarkable, especially his ability to convey these problems to westerners, predisposed to view the problems of these far-off peoples in the context of our own experience (which is wrong). He writes in a very realist kind of way, all the while keeping the text fresh and interesting by infusing it with stories from his personal travels in these regions. And that’s another strength for Kaplan; instead of simply digesting and regurgitating volumes on these places (which is certainly not to say that he is not well-read), he goes and experiences the conflicts and the problems first-hand, meeting all manner of people and synthesizing their experience to make a statement about the greater issues at hand. He is some glorious combination of historian, journalist, and travel writer all in one.