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What a strange book from Robert Kaplan. I've read several of his books (though none since around 2000) and this one is downright perplexing. Kaplan seems be going through some serious self-doubt, repudiating elements of his earlier books and even (on p. 236) questioning the book that he is now writing (and we are now reading). Early sections on Rimini, Ravenna and Venice are weighed down by extreme intellectual naval-gazing and digression; only when Kaplan reached Trieste and (not coincidentally) starts talking to people again does he slip back into something like his old form. There are lots of interesting ideas and observations, but he tests our patience and makes us work for them.