Easternization

"Informed on history and up to date, the book is a sprightly, pointed primer on world affairs.”—Foreign Affairs

"This intelligent and provocative new book by the paper’s leading chief foreign affairs commentator, Gideon Rachman, reminds us of different requirements for journalistic excellence: historical education, engagement in scholarly debates and tireless travel to interview global decision-makers.”—The New York Times

"Asia’s new predominance—which essentially means China’s increasing power—is taken as the starting point of Mr. Rachman’s narrative. He makes the convincing, chilling case that the military gap between the United States and China is rapidly narrowing and that the ‘focal point of Chinese-American military rivalry is the control of the Western Pacific,’ which is now ‘disputed territory.’ Reviewing China’s challenge to America’s decadeslong predominance in Asia’s waters, Mr. Rachman links it to a broader Chinese goal, led by Mr. Xi, of finally overcoming China’s so-called ‘century of humiliation.’ This is a fascinating story.”—The Wall Street Journal

"Gideon Rachman’s Easternization, his new survey of a transformed Asia, admirably does what so little writing on foreign affairs attempts. It treats with equal facility economics, geopolitics, security, enough history for needed background, official thinking, and public attitudes. Rachman, chief foreign affairs columnist for the Financial Times, has an eye for the telling statistic and for the memorable detail that makes it stick. He packs an enormous amount of information into a short book and opens windows of understanding for nonexperts onto this immensely important three fifths of humanity. And while not directly concerned with the new American administration, the story he tells shows well why Donald Trump’s foreign policies could end so badly for the United States and for the world.”—The New York Times Book Review